Phenothiazines solution complexity - Determination of pKa and solubility-pH profiles exhibiting sub-micellar aggregation at 25 and 37°C

The ionization constants (pKa) and the pH-dependent solubility (log S-pH) of six phenothiazine derivatives (promazine hydrochloride, chlorpromazine hydrochloride, triflupromazine hydrochloride, fluphenazine dihydrochloride, perphenazine free base, and trifluoperazine dihydrochloride) were determined at 25 and 37°C. The pKa values of these low-soluble surface active molecules were determined by the cosolvent method (n-propanol/water at 37°C and methanol/water at 25°C). The log S-pH profiles were measured at 24h incubation time in 0.15M phosphate buffers. The log S-pH "shape-template" method, which critically depends on accurate pKa values (determined independently of solubility data), was used to propose speciation models, which were subsequently refined by rigorous mass-action weighted regression procedure described recently. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), UV-visible spectrophotometry, potentiometric, and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) measurements were used to characterize the compounds. The intrinsic solubility (S0) values of the three least-soluble drugs (chlorpromazine·HCl, triflupromazine·HCl, and trifluoperazine·2HCl) at 25°C were 0.5, 1.1, and 2.7μg/mL (resp.). These values increased to 5.5, 9.2, and 8.7μg/mL (resp.) at the physiological temperature. The enthalpies of solution for the latter compounds were exceptionally high positive (endothermic) values (99-152kJ·mol(-1)). Cationic sub-micellar aggregates were evident (from the distortions in the log S-pH profiles) for chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, perphenazine, and trifluoperazine at 25°C. The effects persisted at 37°C for chlorpromazine and trifluoperazine. The solids in suspension were apparently amorphous in cases where the drugs were introduced as the chloride salts.