Lapatinib (LAP), the tyrosine kinase inhibitor drug with moderate bioavailability, was characterized in terms of physicochemical properties: acid-base characteristics, lipophilicity, and solubility. The highly lipophilic nature of the drug and its extremely low water solubility (S0=0.82 nM) limit the development of a parenteral formulation. In order to enhance solubility and bioavailability, inclusion complex formation with cyclodextrins (CDs) is a promising method of choice. Therefore, LAP-CD interactions were also studied by a multianalytical approach. The stability constants of LAP with native cyclodextrins, determined by UV spectroscopy, identified the seven-membered β-CD as the most suitable host. Continuous variation method (Job’s plot) by ¹H NMR showed a 1 : 1 stoichiometry for the complexes. The geometry of the complex was elucidated by 2D ROESY NMR measurements and molecular modeling, indicating that the partial molecular encapsulation includes the fluorophenyl ring of LAP. Phase-solubility studies with four CDs, β-CD, (2-hydroxypropyl)-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD), randomly methylated-β- (RAMEB-) cyclodextrin, and sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin (SBE-β-CD), show an AL type diagram and highly increased solubility via CD complexation. The results are especially promising with SBE-β-CD, exerting more than 600-fold gain in solubility. The equilibrium and structural information presented herein can offer the molecular basis for an improved drug formulation with enhanced bioavailability.

Microscopic redox equilibrium constants and standard redox potential values were determined to quantify selenolate-diselenide equilibria of biological significance. The highly composite, codependent acid-base and redox equilibria of selenolates could so far be converted into pH-dependent, apparent parameters (equilibrium constants, redox potentials) only. In this work, the selenolate-diselenide redox equilibria of selenocysteamine and selenocysteine against dithiothreitol were analyzed by quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods to characterize the interfering acid-base and redox equilibria. The directly obtained, pH-dependent, conditional redox equilibrium constants were then decomposed by our method into pH-independent, microscopic constants, which characterize the two-electron redox transitions of selenocysteamine and selenocysteine. The 12 different, species-specific parameter values show close correlation with the respective selenolate basicities, providing a tool to estimate otherwise inaccessible site-specific selenolate-diselenide redox potentials of related moieties in large peptides and proteins.

Selenium, the multifaceted redox agent, is characterized in terms of oxidation states, with emphasis on selenol and diselenide in proteinogenic compounds. Selenocysteine, selenocystine, selenocysteamine, and selenocystamine are depicted in view of their co-dependent, interfering acid-base, and redox properties. The pH-dependent, apparent (conditional), and pH-independent, highly specific, microscopic forms of the redox equilibrium constants are described. Experimental techniques and evaluation methods for the determination of the equilibrium and redox parameters are discussed, with a focus on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which is the prime technique to observe selenium properties in organic compounds. The correlation between redox, acid-base, and NMR parameters is shown in diagrams and tables. The fairly accessible NMR and acid-base parameters are discussed to assess the predictive power of these methods to estimate the site-specific redox properties of selenium-containing moieties in large molecules.