Preparation of ibuprofen/hydroxypropyl-Γ-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes using supercritical CO₂-assisted spray drying

Herein we report the formation of dry powder complexes of ibuprofen (IBU) and hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin (HP-γ-CyD) by supercritical CO₂-assisted spray-drying (SASD). SASD of HP-γ-CyD alone, IBU/HP-γ-CyD, as well as the physical mixture were prepared and characterized using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultra-violet spectroscopy (UV), ¹³C cross-polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³C CP/MAS NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and morphological studies. Results indicate the successful formation of amorphous inclusion complexes. SASD is a clean technology, suitable for processing thermolabile APIs, thus an interesting alternative to conventional spray drying and other methods of CyD solid complex formation.