Evaluation of a cationic calix[4]arene: Solubilization and self-aggregation ability

Water-soluble calixarenes are promising macrocyclic compounds which have found numerous applications in chemistry and biology. However, these compounds have been less studied in regard to their behavior in aqueous solutions and mechanisms of drug solubilization. The present work is devoted to the evaluation of the solubilizing properties and estimation of self-aggregation ability of positively charged 5,11,17,23-tetrakis(trimethylammoniomethyl)-25,26,27,28-tetrapropoxy-calix[4]arene tetrachloride (aminocalix), including comparisons with a series of pharmaceutically relevant cyclodextrins. Phase-solubility measurements of the drugs with aminocalix and various cyclodextrins were carried out. Aminocalix showed a solubilizing ability comparable to the cyclodextrins. The drug solubility enhancement caused by the aminocalix was studied and was found to be maximal for steroid drugs. An attempt to understand the solubilizing mechanism of aminocalix was undertaken based on correlation analysis between physical and physico-chemical properties of the drugs from one side and the solubilizing ability of aminocalix from the other. Correlation analysis supports the supposition that the solubilizing effect of aminocalix is based on interaction of the drug with aminocalix aggregates rather than on inclusion complexation. UV-absorbance, osmolality and surface tension concentration dependences of aminocalix showed an inflection at 1% (w/v) which was initially related to the transition from monomers to micelles. However, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy measurements revealed that likely vesicles of diverse size exist at 0.1% (w/v) concentration. Thus the 1% (w/v) inflection point was interpreted to be spontaneous reordering of the vesicles between two different size populations

Cationic quaternized aminocalix[4]arenes: Cytotoxicity, haemolytic and antibacterial activities

This study reports the characterization of three cationic amphiphillic aminocalix[4]arenes as potential antimicrobial agents in vitro. In cytotoxicity tests on mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells aminocalix[4]arenes 1 and 3 showed no toxicity up to 200 and 100 μM concentrations, respectively, while 2 was non-toxic only up to 50 μM. With regard to the haemolytic activity on rabbit red blood cells, 1 was not active at concentrations up to 100 μM in contrast to the other two studied macrocycles. Compounds showed negligible ability to protect either mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells from anthrax lethal toxin of Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) or rabbit red blood cells from α-haemolysin of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in comparison to amino-β-cyclodextrins. However, all aminocalix[4]arenes showed potential as antimicrobials. Their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and S. aureus were in the 16-32 μg/ml concentration range, while minimum lethal concentrations (MLC) varied from 16 to 256 μg/ml depending on the bacteria and aminocalix[4]arene considered. Macrocycle 1 showed partial synergism against S. aureus in tandem with a model antibacterial drug, fusidic acid, at certain concentration combinations

Surface activity and self-aggregation ability of three cationic quaternized aminocalix[4]arenes

The self-aggregation ability of three amphiphilic cationic calix[4]arenes possessing four quaternary amino groups (aminoCAs) was investigated using a variety of methods. All of the studied compounds possess high aggregation ability. Their critical aggregation concentration (CAC) values in water are in the 0.0009-0.04 % (w/v) concentration range. Several size populations of aggregates were detected by DLS for all three CAs, and restructuring of aggregates was observed to be dependent on concentration. Particles formed above CAC were attributed to formation of vesicular structures (vesicles). The coexistence of other type of aggregates (presumably micelles) with vesicles was observed in the aqueous solution of CAs 2 and 3 from concentrations of 0.5 and 0.8 % (w/v), respectively. The filtration procedure was found to be a significant factor since the obtained data from filtered and unfiltered samples was different. The particle sizes obtained by TEM measurements were somewhat correlated with the DLS data for unfiltered CAs solutions. An analysis of the aggregate composition was undertaken by a size-exclusion method using semi-permeable cellophane membranes with different MWCO. A negative deviation from linearity of permeability flux profile starting from 0.8 % (w/v) concentration of donor phase indicated that the fraction of large aggregates at this point is significant enough that the molecules could not easily permeate through the membranes

Antifungal drug solubilizing activity and self-aggregation ability of cationic aminocalix[4]arene in comparison to SBEβCD:effect of addition of water-soluble polymer

Ionized calixarene derivatives often possess properties of typical surfactants, aggregating in aqueous solutions. Their solubilizing properties, in this case, are often greater than conventional excipients, cyclodextrins. This in addition to their reported low toxicity makes these compounds promising pharmaceutical excipients. In this study we investigate the solubilizing ability of a cationic aminocalix[4]arene (CALIX), towards antifungal drugs, alone and with addition of HPMC. Next, the compound's self-aggregation properties in the presence of drug alone or in conjunction with polymer were studied using DLS, and compared to that for SBEβCD. Twenty percent (w/v) CALIX solution solubilizes antifungal drugs more efficiently than SBEβCD, improving for example the solubility of clotrimazole more than 21,000 times compared to its intrinsic solubility, and addition of 0.25 % HPMC into complexation media increases this effect further. Introduction of drug alone or in combination with the polymer into the complexation media significantly changes the microenvironment of excipient's aqueous solution, resulting either in smaller or larger aggregates depending on the drug chosen, presence of the polymer or the excipient used. Growth of the aggregates is observed to a greater extent upon introduction of clotrimazole into the media than with econazole nitrate and in some cases the particles were large enough to be observed by conventional light microscopy