A thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) method developed for estimating the stoichiometric ratio of solid-state α-cyclodextrin-based inclusion complexes

An approach mainly based on thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was developed to evaluate the stoichiometric ratio (SR, guest to host) of the guest–α-cyclodextrin (Guest-α-CD) inclusion complexes (4-cresol-α-CD, benzyl alcohol-α-CD, ferrocene-α-CD and decanoic acid-α-CD). The present data obtained from Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy showed that all the α-CD-based inclusion complexes were successfully prepared in a solid-state form. The stoichiometric ratios of α-CD to the relative guests (4-cresol, benzyl alcohol, ferrocene and decanoic acid) determined by the developed method were 1:1, 1:2, 2:1 and 1:2, respectively. These SR data were well demonstrated by the previously reported X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and the NMR confirmatory experiments, except the SR of decanoic acid with a larger size and longer chain was not consistent. It is, therefore, suggested that the TGA-based method is applicable to follow the stoichiometric ratio of the polycrystalline α-CD-based inclusion complexes with smaller and shorter chain guests.

► We develop a TGA method for the measurement of the stoichiometric ratio.
► A series of formulas are deduced to calculate the stoichiometric ratio.
► Four α-CD-based inclusion complexes were successfully prepared.
► The developed method is applicable.