Investigation of aqueous stability of taxol in different release media

In the present study, the aqueous stability of taxol in different aqueous media and immiscible aqueous/organic systems at 37 °C was investigated. The aqueous media included phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and PBS containing 10% methanol, 10% ethanol, 10% hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin (HP-βCD), 1% sodium citrate and 1% Tween 80. The immiscible systems consisted of PBS/octanol, PBS/dichloromethane, PBS/chloroform and PBS/ethyl acetate. The concentrations of taxol and related derivatives in each of the media were determined through the high-performance liquid chromatography assay. Results showed that hydrolysis and epimerization were two major types of degradation for taxol in the aqueous media starting from the initial hours of contact (6 hours). Addition of Tween 80 to PBS moderately increased the aqueous stability of taxol. As well, using PBS containing 10% HP-βCD inhibited the taxol hydrolysis, while epimerization still in process. In the case of immiscible systems, except for PBS/ethyl acetate system, no evidences of taxol hydrolysis were observed. Meanwhile, epimerization of taxol in PBS/dichloromethane and PBS/chloroform systems underwent due to the ability of C-Cl bonds to form hydrogen bonding with the hydroxyl group of C7 of taxol.