Water desolvation

To move through the membrane (change sides or transverse diffusion), a molecule must be able to pass through the hydrophobic portion of the lipid bilayer. For ions and proteins, this means that they must lose their interactions with water (desolvation). Because this is extremely difficult, ions and proteins do not move through membranes by themselves. Small molecules such as C02, NH3 (but not NH ). and water can diffuse through membranes however, most other small molecules pass through the lipid bilayer very slowly, if at all. This permeability barrier means that cells must develop mechanisms to move molecules from one side of the membrane to the other. 

Interactions between nonpolar compounds are generally stronger in water than in organic solvents. At concentrations where no aggregation or phase separation takes place, pairwise hydrophobic interactions can occur. Under these conditions, the lowest energy state for a solute molecule is the one in which it is completely surrounded by water molecules. However, occasionally, it will also meet other solute molecules, and form short-lived encounter complexes. In water, the lifetime of these complexes exceeds that in organic solvents, since the partial desolvation that accompanies the formation of these complexes is less unfavourable in water than in organic solvents. 

Spray Drying. Spray-dry encapsulation processes (Fig. 7) consist of spraying an intimate mixture of core and shell material into a heated chamber where rapid desolvation occurs to thereby produce microcapsules (24,25). The first step in such processes is to form a concentrated solution of the carrier or shell material in the solvent from which spray drying is to be done. Any water- or solvent-soluble film-forming shell material can, in principle, be used. Water-soluble polymers such as gum arable, modified starch, and hydrolyzed gelatin are used most often. Solutions of these shell materials at 50 wt % soHds have sufficiently low viscosities that they stiU can be atomized without difficulty. It is not unusual to blend gum arable and modified starch with maltodextrins, sucrose, or sorbitol. 

The second step is to disperse the core material being encapsulated in the solution of shell material. The core material usually is a hydrophobic or water-knmiscible oil, although soHd powders have been encapsulated. A suitable emulsifier is used to aid formation of the dispersion or emulsion. In the case of oil core materials, the oil phase is typically reduced to a drop size of 1—3 p.m. Once a suitable dispersion or emulsion has been prepared, it is sprayed into a heated chamber. The small droplets produced have a high surface area and are rapidly converted by desolvation in the chamber to a fine powder. Residence time in the spray-drying chamber is 30 s or less. Inlet and outlet air temperatures are important process parameters as is relative humidity of the inlet air stream. 

One of the most remarkable results from the molecular simulation studies of aqueous electrolyte solutions was that no additional molecular forces needed to be introduced to prevent the much smaller ions (Na has a molecular diameter of less than 0.2 nm) from permeating the membrane, while permitting the larger water molecules (about 0.3 nm in diameter) to permeate the membrane. This appeared to be due to the large ionic clusters formed. The ions were surrounded by water molecules, thus increasing their effective size quite considerably to almost 1 nm. A typical cluster formed due to the interaction between the ions and a polar solvent is shown in Fig. 7. These clusters were found to be quite stable, with a fairly high energy of desolvation. The inability of the ions to permeate the membrane is also shown... 

Sn2 reactions with anionic nucleophiles fall into this class, and observations are generally in accord with the qualitative prediction. Unusual effects may be seen in solvents of low dielectric constant where ion pairing is extensive, and we have already commented on the enhanced nucleophilic reactivity of anionic nucleophiles in dipolar aprotic solvents owing to their relative desolvation in these solvents. Another important class of ion-molecule reaction is the hydroxide-catalyzed hydrolysis of neutral esters and amides. Because these reactions are carried out in hydroxy lie solvents, the general medium effect is confounded with the acid-base equilibria of the mixed solvent lyate species. (This same problem occurs with Sn2 reactions in hydroxylic solvents.) This equilibrium is established in alcohol-water mixtures ... 

FIGURE 16.5 Substrates typically lose waters of hydration in the formation of the ES complex. Desolvation raises the energy of the ES complex, making it more reactive. 

Fig. 20.11 Two types of arrangement of ions at a metal/solution interface, (a) Arrangement O solvated ions in the O.H.P. and surface of electrode covered with water dipoles, (b) Arrangement I desolvated ions in the I.H.P. (after Bockris and Reddy )...

Using this relationship for different enzymatic reactions (e.g., Ref. 13) indicates that enzymes do not use the desolvation mechanism and that their reactions have no similarity to the corresponding gas-phase reaction, but rather to the reference reaction in water. In fact, enzymes have evolved as better solvents than water, by providing an improved solvation to the transition state (see Section 9.4). 

We must also consider the changes in solvation of the ligands which occur upon coordination. If we consider an amine in water, we would anticipate strong hydrogen-bonding. If we compare 1,2-diaminoethane with ammonia, we would expect the latter to be more highly solvated. This corresponds to a more unfavourable enthalpy associated with the desolvation. 

Even greater disruption is encountered in the case of trivalent cations (Figures 4.9,4.10). They completely penetrate both hydration regions and destroy the structure of water around the polyion. This amounts to complete desolvation. The same is true of bound hydrogen ions which are localized. 

The coacervation approach uses heating or chemical denaturation and desolvation of natural proteins or carbohydrates. As much as 85% of water-soluble drugs can be entrapped within a protein matrix by freeze-drying the emulsion prepared in this manner. For water-insoluble drugs, a microsuspension-emul-sion procedure has been suggested as a method of choice to achieve high drug payloads. 

The active site of enzymes usually are located in clefts and crevices in the protein. This design effectively excludes bulk solvent (water), which would otherwise reduce the catalytic activity of the enzyme. In other words, the substrate molecule is desolvated upon binding, and shielded from bulk solvent in the enzyme active site. Solvation by water is replaced by specific interactions with the protein (Warshel et al., 1989). 

Most drug-like molecules dissolved in water form hydrogen bonds with the solvent. When such a molecule transfers from water into a phospholipid bilayer, the solute-water hydrogen bonds are broken (desolvation), as new solute-lipid H bonds form in the lipid phase. The free-energy difference between the two states of solvation has direct impact on the ability of the molecules to cross biological barriers. 

In series with a desolvation energy barrier required to disrupt aqueous solute hydrogen bonds [14], the lipid bilayer offers a practically impermeable barrier to hydrophilic solutes. It follows that significant transepithelial transport of water-soluble molecules must be conducted paracellularly or mediated by solute translocation via specific integral membrane proteins (Fig. 6). Transcellular permeability of lipophilic solutes depends on their solubility in GI membrane lipids relative to their aqueous solubility. This lumped parameter, membrane permeability,... 

In this model, one can argue that a peptide must have both an affinity for the interface (favorable n-octanol partition coefficient) and small desolvation energy (favorable A log PC) in order to efficiently cross a cell membrane. On the other hand, this model also predicts that a peptide with a large n-octanol/water partition coefficient and large desolvation energy, due to a significant number of polar groups, should adsorb and remain at the membrane interface. Both of these predicted events have been observed in the laboratory. 

The physical properties of the anhydrate form and two polymorphic monohydrates of niclosamide have been reported [61], The anhydrate form exhibited the highest solubility in water and the fastest intrinsic dissolution rate, while the two monohydrates exhibited significantly lower aqueous solubilities. In a subsequent study, the 1 1 solvates of niclosamide with methanol, diethyl ether, dimethyl sulfoxide, N,/V -dimethyl formamide, and tetrahydrofuran, and the 2 1 solvate with tetraethylene glycol, were studied [62], The relative stability of the different solvatomorphs was established using desolvation activation energies, solution calorimetry, and aqueous solubilities. It was found that although the nonaqueous solvates exhibited higher solubilities and dissolution rates, they were unstable in aqueous media and rapidly transformed to one of the monohydrates. 

Differential scanning calorimetry can also supply valuable information regarding solvate species, and it is particularly useful with respect to temperature and energetics of the desolvation process Two samples of the developmental compound L-706000-001T were shown to be chemically identical, and each contained two moles of water. The XRD powder patterns for the two samples were found to be quite different, demonstrating the existence of polymorphism... 

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