The impact of the size of acetylated cyclodextrin on the stability of amorphous metronidazole

Modified oligosaccharides with cyclic topology seem to be promising excipients for the preparation of Amorphous Solid Dispersions (ASDs), especially with those Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), which have a strong crystallization tendency from the amorphous/glassy state. Herein, the usefulness of two acetylated cyclodextrins (ac-α-CD and ac-β-CD) with various molecular weights (Mw) as stabilizers for the supercooled metronidazole (Met) has been discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies carried out on Met-acCDs mixtures (prepared in molar ratios from 1:2 to 5:1) showed that the system with ac-α-CD containing the highest amount of API (5:1 m/m) crystallizes immediately after preparation, whereas all Met-ac-β-CD ASDs remain stable. What is more, long-term XRD measurements confirmed that the Met-ac-α-CD 2:1 m/m system crystallizes after 100 days of storage in contrast to the same system containing ac-β-CD. The non-isothermal calorimetric data revealed that the activation barrier for crystallization (Ecr) in ASDs with the oligosaccharide having a greater Mw (i.e., composed of seven acGLU molecules) is slightly higher. Finally, to explain the differences in behavior between the mixtures with both acCDs, infrared studies, DFT calculations and Molecular Dynamics simulations were performed. All methods excluded the scenario of API incorporation inside the acCDs’ core. On the other hand, obtained results suggested that in comparison to ac-α-CD, the greater amount of Met molecules might be bounded on the outside surface of ac-β-CD. Therefore, this modified saccharide is a better stabilizer of the examined API.