Dynamics of Clay-Intercalated Ibuprofen Studied by Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

In designing drug delivery systems with improved release properties and bioavailability, the dynamic features of the active pharmaceutical ingredient can be crucial for the final product properties. In this work, we aimed at obtaining the first characterization of the molecular dynamic properties of one of the most common nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, ibuprofen, intercalated in hydrotalcite, an interesting inorganic carrier. By exploiting a variety of solid state NMR techniques, including ¹H and ¹³C MAS spectra and T₁ relaxation measurements, performed at variable temperature and carrying out a synergic analysis of all results, it has been possible to ascertain that the mobility of ibuprofen within the carrier is remarkably increased. In particular, strong indications have been obtained that ibuprofen molecules, in addition to internal interconformational dynamics, experience an overall molecular motion. Also considering that ibuprofen is "anchored" to the charged surface of the hydrotalcite layers through its carboxylate moiety, such motion could be a wobbling-in-a-cone. Activation energies and correlation times of all the motions of intercalated ibuprofen have been determined.