Antipyrine–gamma cyclodextrin inclusion complex: Molecular modeling, preparation, characterization and cytotoxicity studies

• A new inclusion complex for antipyrine with γ-cyclodextrin was prepared by freeze-drying method.
• Molecular modeling approach revealed most favorable conformation of inclusion complex.
• The inclusion complex was characterized by solid state analytical techniques and NMR spectroscopy.
• The complex did not exhibit toxicity up to 500 μM concentration against MDCK-1 cells.

Molecular docking, semi-empirical and molecular dynamics studies were conducted for α, β and γ-cyclodextrin-associated inclusion complexes of antipyrine. The results of molecular modeling were systematically analyzed to determine the stability of inclusion complexes. In preliminary computational screening, β and γ-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes of antipyrine were found to be more stable as compared to α-cyclodextrin based on docking score and binding free energies. Further, inclusion complex of antipyrine with γ-cyclodextrin was prepared by freeze drying method. Formation of the inclusion complex was investigated by solid state characterization techniques such as thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The changes observed in decomposition temperature, diffractogram, vibrational frequencies and morphological appearance confirmed the formation of inclusion complex. In addition, results from 1H NMR and 2D NOESY studies supported the inclusion phenomenon. The results obtained from computational studies were found to be in consistent with experimental data to ascertain the encapsulation of antipyrine into γ-cyclodextrin. The inclusion complex was found to be non-toxic toward MDCK-1 cell lines. Thus, this approach may be helpful in the formulation of drug molecules using cyclodextrins.

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