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Updated: Mar 23, 2026

Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
Published on: February 7, 2017
The self-assemble of natural cyclodextrins in aqueous solutions: Application of miniature permeation studies for
Phennapha Saokham1, André Sá Couto1, Alexey Ryzhakov1
1Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Iceland, Hofsvallagata 53, 107 Reykjavík, Iceland.
Abstract:
Permeation techniques can be applied to determine the critical aggregation concentration (cac) of natural cyclodextrins (CDs) in aqueous solutions although the method is both laborious and time consuming. In the present study, the permeation technique was modified and the influence of osmotic pressure, sampling time, CD concentration and molecular weight-cut off (MWCO) of the membrane were investigated in two different permeation units, that is Franz diffusion cells and Slide-A-Lyzer™ MINI Dialysis. While both the osmotic pressure and CD concentration affect the steady state flux in both permeation units, effects of sampling time and the MWCO of the mounted membrane were only observed in the Franz diffusion cells. The osmotic effect was negligible in the Slide-A-Lyzer™ MINI Dialysis units. The modified permeation technique using Slide-A-Lyzer™ MINI Dialysis units was then used to determine the cac of natural CDs in water. The cac of αCD, βCD and γCD was 1.19±0.17, 0.69±0.05 and 0.93±0.04% (w/v), respectively. The results indicated that the cac values depended on their intrinsic solubility. Moreover, the cac value of γCD in aqueous hydrocortisone/γCD inclusion complex solution was identical to the γCD cac value determined in pure water.
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