Probing nanoscale features of electrospun amorphous solid dispersions

Electrospinning allows the formation of ultrathin films with great flexibility formed by polymer fibres of microscale width. The incorporation of drug into these fibres can enable the formation of amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) in which drug is dispersed within the polymer matrix to inhibit the formation of crystalline forms which have reduced solubility. It has been found that electrospun ASDs which don't exhibit evidence of crystallinity by XRD do however contain nanoscale phase-separated domains of drug which are detectable by SANS. These domains become evident when samples are doped with D2O to generate high contrast between solvated polymer and drug domain. This study will use SANS to resolve the spatiotemporal evolution of these domains during dissolution in D2O with a view to linking polymer properties and drug chemistry to performance as a drug delivery vehicle.

静电纺丝（Electrospinning）可制备由微米级宽度聚合物纤维构成的高柔韧性超薄膜。将药物掺入这些纤维中可形成无定形固体分散体（amorphous solid dispersions, ASDs），其中药物分散于聚合物基质内，以抑制溶解度较低的结晶形式形成。研究发现，通过X射线衍射（XRD）未显示结晶迹象的静电纺丝ASDs，却含有可通过小角中子散射（SANS）检测到的纳米级药物相分离域。当样品掺入重水（D₂O）以在溶剂化聚合物与药物域之间产生高对比度时，这些域会变得明显。本研究将利用SANS解析这些域在D₂O中溶解过程的时空演变，旨在将聚合物性质与药物化学特性与药物递送载体的性能关联起来。