Preparation of amorphous cefuroxime axetil nanoparticles by controlled nanoprecipitation method without surfactants

Amorphous nanoparticles of cefuroxime axetil (CFA), a poorly water-soluble drug, were produced by the controlled nanoprecipitation method without any surfactants at room temperature. The influence of the operation parameters, such as the types of solvent and anti-solvent, the stirring speed, the solvent/anti-solvent (S/AS) volume ratio, the drug concentration and the precipitation temperature, were experimentally investigated. The results indicated that increasing the stirring speed and the S/AS volume, decreasing the drug concentration and the temperature favored to decrease the particle size from 700 to 900 nm to ∼300 nm. The XRD analyses confirmed that the as-prepared CFA was amorphous nanoparticles. Furthermore, the amorphous CFA nanoparticles exhibited significantly enhanced dissolution property when compared to the commercial spray-dried product. The results demonstrated that the controlled nanoprecipitation method is a direct and feasible technology which could be utilized for preparation of the poorly water-soluble pharmaceutical nanoparticles.