Investigations into the Synthesis, Identification and Developability of Active Ionic Liquids

Abstract

Studied for decades, ionic liquids have largely been used as solvents in the pharmaceutical industry. An active ionic liquid (AIL) contains an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) as one of the counterions. They have to potential to be advantageous in traditional oral and alternative non-oral routes of administration. The library of successful AILs was increased with a series of generic and propriatary compounds. They were characterized via infrared spectrometry, glass transition temperature, residual solvent, salt factor and biorelevant solubility. The impact of counterion selection on physical properties was discussed for three series of AILs. Issues with purification and the impact of residual solvent were investigated. While the equilibrium solubility enhancement of AILs over their neutral forms was not as high as hoped for, the dissolution rate advantage and utility for liquid dosing remains to be investigated.