US scientists have provided a strategy to improve the properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) by combining ionic liquids (used to improve the properties of solid APIs) with prodrugs (used to improve solubility, permeability and bioavailability of APIs). The prodrug ionic liquids present additional advantages such as controlled release of the APIs in simulated body fluids. This work could offer an important strategy to improve the properties of APIs and drug delivery.
Prodrug ionic liquids: functionalizing neutral active pharmaceutical ingredients to take advantage of the ionic liquid form
O. Andreea Cojocaru, Katharina Bica, Gabriela Gurau, Asako Narita, Parker D. McCrary, Julia L. Shamshina, Patrick S. Barber and Robin D. Rogers
MedChemComm, 2013
DOI: 10.1039/C3MD20359J
