Micellization and solubilization behavior of sucrose laurate, a new pharmaceutical excipient

The micellization and solubilization properties of sucrose laurate have been investigated. Solubilization experiments showed that numerous poorly water-soluble drug substances could be solubilized by aqueous sucrose laurate solutions; the solubilization was uncomplicated and the maximum solubilizate concentration was high. Laser light scattering investigations proved that solutions containing pure sucrose monolaurate formed spheroidally shaped micelles with a hydrodynamic radius of 29.2 A, which behaved like ideal particles, showing no solute-solute interactions. Surprisingly, the hydrodynamic radii of the sucrose monolaurate micelles were hardly changed by the introduction of 0.20% cyclosporin-A. The addition of sucrose dilaurate, the main impurity of the sucrose laurate product, however, resulted in large and polydisperse structures. Considering the critical packing parameters, the light scattering results could be explained by assuming a transformation of the spherical micelle into a disk with rounded edge.