Influence of inclusion complexation with β-cyclodextrin on the photostability of selected imidazoline-derived drugs

In this paper, the influence of inclusion complexation with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) on the photostability of antazoline, xylometazoline, and naphazoline in aqueous media was investigated. The photodegradation reaction of these drugs molecules was explored using UV-vis spectrophotometery-based kinetic analysis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Quantitative evaluation of the influence of β-CD was judged based on the observed rate constant (k_obs), half-life time (t_0.5) and t_0.1 of the photodegradation reaction and the peak area of the corresponding analyte after photodegradation using HPLC separation. It has been demonstrated that the photostability of these selected imidazoline-based drugs has been enhanced upon forming inclusion complexes with β-CD in aqueous media. Moreover, high consistency regarding the photostability enhancement was obtained using both techniques. Hypothetical structure for 1:1 inclusion complexes was proposed based on molecular mechanics calculations, which in turn provide an insight for the energetically preferential structure of the inclusion complexes. The results obtained demonstrate that β-CD can be utilized as photostabilizer additive for enhancing the photostability of imidazoline-derived drugs molecules.