Application of Intermolecular Spaces between Polyethylene Glycol/γ-Cyclodextrin-Polypseudorotaxanes as a Host for Various Guest Drugs

Eleven guest drugs with planar structures were incorporated into the intermolecular spaces between polyethylene glycol/γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD)-polypseudorotaxanes by a sealed-heating method. Drug incorporation changed the crystal packing of γ-CD from hexagonal- to monoclinic-columnar forms, without dependence on the guest species. The incorporation of guest drugs was size dependent and stoichiometric. Guest drugs with one benzene ring and maximum cross sectional areas of ca. 40–55 Å 2 exhibited a drug to γ-CD stoichiometry of 2:1. Meanwhile, the stoichiometry was 1:1 for drugs with 2–3 benzene rings and maximum cross sectional areas of ca. 60–75 Å 2 . More sterically bulky drugs (four and five benzene rings) did form complexes, though the complexation efficiency was insufficient to form stoichiometric complexes, due to steric hindrance. The volume of intermolecular space of the host was estimated to be larger than that of a β-CD cavity and as large as that of a γ-CD cavity. Hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions worked as driving forces for the complexation because polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with high log P values formed the complex. The dissolution property of the hydrophobic pharmaceutical drug naproxen was clearly improved by the complexation because naproxen existed in a monomolecular state in the complex.