Abstract
Numerous studies are continuously being carried out in pursuit of formulations with higher performance. Problems such as poor drug solubility, which hinders drug incorporation into delivery systems and bioavailability, or limitations concerning the stability and performance of the formulations may cause difficulties, since solving all these drawbacks at once is a huge challenge. Ionic liquids (ILs), due to their tunable nature, may hypothetically be synthesized for a particular application. Therefore, predicting the impact of a particular combination of ions within an IL in drug delivery could be a useful strategy. Eight ILs, two choline amino acid ILs, two imidazole halogenated ILs, and four imidazole amino acid ILs, were prepared. Their applicability at non-toxic concentrations, for improving solubility and the incorporation of the poorly soluble, ferulic, caffeic, and p-coumaric acids, as well as rutin, into topical emulsions, was assessed. Next, the impact of the ILs on the performance of the formulations was investigated. Our study showed that choosing the appropriate IL leads to a clear upgrade of a topical emulsion, by optimizing multiple features of its performance, such as improving the delivery of poorly soluble drugs, altering the viscosity, which may lead to better sensorial features, and increasing the stability over time.
Highlights
Ionic liquids (ILs) have emerged as valuable tools to solve a wide range of challenges in the pharmaceutical field
ILs have proven to be an interesting tool to be used in several areas, such as the pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors
In this study, eight ILs were synthesized with different combinations of cation and anion within the ILs, to assess if these materials could lead to multiple functionalities in topical emulsions
Summary
Ionic liquids (ILs) have emerged as valuable tools to solve a wide range of challenges in the pharmaceutical field. ILs are usually defined as organic salts, which are liquid at temperatures below 100 ◦ C, or in some cases liquid at room temperature (RTILs) [4,5,6,7] These materials are structurally composed of an organic cation (e.g., ammonium, imidazolium, pyridinium, cholinium) and an inorganic (e.g., halides, sulfates) or organic (e.g., phosphates, acetate) anion [8,9,10]. They have several unique and valuable physicochemical properties, such as low volatility and vapor pressure [4,5,6,8], nonflammability [4], high ionic conductivity, thermal and chemical stability [10,11], and the possibility of being recycled [5]. When considering the applicability of ILs towards the development of improved drug delivery systems, the strategic tailoring of these materials may be crucial to ensuring their functionality, at non-toxic concentrations
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