Non-intuitive Behavior of Polymer-Ciprofloxacin Nanoconjugate Suspensions: a Tool for Flexible Oral Drug Delivery.

Ciprofloxacin (CPX) is prone to spontaneous self-aggregation and formation of supramolecular dimers (π - π stacking) due to its complicated surface chemistry which has been associated with its anomalous solubility and instability in aqueous systems particularly near neutral pH. The surface characteristic of ciprofloxacin was modified through non-intuitive counterion interaction between CPX and diethylaminoethyl dextran (DDEX) to form nanoconjugate assembly. The CPX-DDEX nanoconjugate was confirmed by FTIR, SEM, DSC, TGA, and H-NMR.