Improvement of New Dianionic Ionic Liquids vs Monoanionic in Solubility of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs

New ionic liquids (ILs) based on dianionic phosphonate anions and ammonium cations were prepared and characterized. They were used as excipients to increase the water solubility of two oral drugs, piroxicam and ibuprofen, that are slightly soluble in water. An increment in solubility of 300-fold was achieved for ibuprofen when compared with pure water, with only 0.25 mol% of IL in water. Interestingly, this was achieved with the less toxic dianionic ionic liquid [N_{4 1 2OH 2OH}]₂ [C₂H₅PO₃], which presents an IC₅₀ of 120 mM (≈0.25 mol%). On the other hand, piroxicam showed an increase of 480-fold for the same dianionic ionic liquid, with the same ionic liquid percentage. In contrast, for monoanionic ionic liquids, the effect was not so pronounced, and only a 10-fold was obtained, in the presence of 0.3 mol% of IL. The lipophilicity (logP) of drugs decreased in the presence of these ILs. Cytotoxicity profile of these ILs was determined and they did not show a significant impact towards healthy fibroblasts. The cytotoxicity of ibuprofen and piroxicam was also determined, and cellular viability almost did not change when ionic liquid was in the presence of 1 mM of oral drug.