Impact of polymers on the precipitation behavior of highly supersaturated aqueous danazol solutions

The phase behavior of supersaturated solutions of a relatively hydrophobic drug, danazol, was studied in the absence and presence of polymeric additives. To differentiate between phase separation to a noncrystalline phase and phase separation to a crystalline phase, an environmentally sensitive fluorescent probe was employed. Induction times for crystallization in the presence and absence of polymeric additives were studied using a combination of ultraviolet and fluorescence spectroscopy. It was found that, when danazol was added to aqueous media at concentrations above the amorphous solubility, liquid-liquid phase separation was briefly observed prior to crystallization, resulting in a short-lived, drug-rich noncrystalline danazol phase with an initial size of around 500 nm. The addition of polymers was found to greatly extend the lifetime of the supersaturated two phase system, delaying the onset of crystallization from a few minutes to a few hours. Below a certain threshold danazol concentration, found to represent the amorphous solubility, only crystallization was observed. Thus, although the addition of polymers was unable to prevent danazol from precipitating once a threshold concentration was exceeded, they did inhibit crystallization, leading to a solution with prolonged supersaturation. This observation highlights the need to determine the structure of the precipitating phase, since it is linked to the resultant solution concentration time profile.