Flash nanoprecipitation: prediction and enhancement of particle stability via drug structure

Flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) can generate hydrophobic drug nanoparticles in ∼ 100 nm with a much higher drug loading (e.g., > 40 wt %) than traditional nanocarriers (e.g., < 20 wt %). This paper studies the effects of drug molecules on nanoparticle stability made via FNP and demonstrates that chemically bonding a drug compound (e.g., paclitaxel) with a cleavable hydrophobic moiety of organosilicate (e.g., triethoxysilicate) is able to enhance the particle size stability. A nonionic amphiphilic diblock copolymer, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLGA-b-PEG), is used as a model surfactant to provide steric stabilization. The experiments here show that the lower the drug solubility in the aqueous medium, the more stable the particles in terms of Ostwald ripening, which are consistent with the prediction by the LSW theory. The initial particle size distribution is sufficiently narrow and of insignificance to Ostwald ripening. To correlate the particle stability with hydrophobicity, this study introduces the n-octanol/water partition coefficient (LogP), a hydrophobicity indication, into the FNP technique. A comparison of various drugs and their analogues shows that LogP of a drug is a better hydrophobicity indication than the solubility parameter (δ) and correlates well with the particle stability. Empirically, with ACDLogP > ∼ 12, nanoparticles have good stability; with ∼ 2 < ACDLogP < ∼ 9, nanoparticles show fast Ostwald ripening and interparticle recrystallization; with ACDLogP < ∼ 2, the drug is very likely difficult to form nanoparticles. This rule creates a quick way to predict particle stability for a randomly selected drug structure and helps to enable a fast preclinical drug screen.