Influence of Drug Encapsulation within Mixed Micelles on the Excited State Dynamics and Accessibility to Ionic Quenchers Edurne Nuin, † Miguel Gomez-Mendoza, † M. Luisa Marin, † Inmaculada Andreu, ‡ and Miguel A. Miranda* ,† † Instituto Universitario Mixto de Tecnología Química (UPV-CSIC), Universitat Polite ̀ cnica de Vale ̀ ncia, Avenida de los Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain ‡ Unidad Mixta de Investigació n IIS La Fe-UPV, Hospital La Fe, Avda. Campanar 21, 46009 Valencia, Spain ABSTRACT: Photophysical techniques, specifically time-resolved fluorescence and laser flash photolysis, have proven to be noninvasive, straightforward, and valuable tools to demonstrate how drug encapsulation into biomimetic mixed micelles (MM) influences the dynamics of excited states and their accessibility to ionic quenchers. This concept has been illustrated by choosing a set of currently administered drugs containing a common naphthalene chromophore, namely, (S)-naproxen and its methyl ester, (R)-cinacalcet and (S)-propranolol. A remarkable increase of their triplet lifetimes is noticed when experiments are performed in MM, indicating efficient entrapment of the drugs in these supramolecular entities. Furthermore, a decrease of 1 order of magnitude in the quenching rate constant of the singlet and triplet excited states (by iodide or nitrite, respectively) is observed upon encapsulation into MM. This approach can in principle be extended to other microenvironments capable of incorporating photoactive compounds. ■ INTRODUCTION Encapsulation within biomimetic microenvironments, such as liposomes, cyclodextrins, micelles, or bile salts is a very versatile tool in biology, biochemistry, and medicine. These micro- heterogeneous systems have been employed as models to study the photochemical behavior of a variety of drugs and its dependence on the nature of the media. 1-4 In this context, mixed micelles (MM) made of phospholipids and bile salts have attracted increasing attention as nanocarriers in pharmaceutical formulations due to their important advantages, such as enhanced stability and reduced toxicity. 5-9 In fact, MM have already been employed as suitable vehicles for poorly water-soluble drugs, such as diazepam, 5 tetraze- pam, 10 clonazepam, 11 diclofenac, 12,13 indometacin, 14 nimodi- pine, 15 silybin, 16 and vitamin K. 17 In this connection, based on their physiological compatibility and solubilizing capability, MM have been successfully used in the intravenous delivery of taxol. 18 Encapsulation of bioactive compounds into microheteroge- neous media has been demonstrated by different techniques that include dynamic light scattering, 19,20 transmission electron microscopy, 21 capillary electrophoresis, 22 calorimetry, 23 small- angle X-ray scattering, 24 ultracentrifugation, 25 and nuclear magnetic resonance. 26 However, most of them are based on indirect measurements and do not inform on the accessibility of the drugs inside biomimetic microenvironments. Therefore, more sensitive and direct methodologies would be desirable to investigate this matter. Recently, we have made use of photophysical techniques, specifically time-resolved fluores- cence and laser flash photolysis (LFP), to prove the incorporation of compounds with different hydrophobicity into cholic acid (CA) aggregates. 27 Additionally, we have employed a photoactive dansyl-labeled cholesterol derivative to reveal efficient incorporation of cholesterol (Ch) into the MM, thus demonstrating the outstanding solubilizing capability of MM. 28 With this background, the aim of the present work is to evaluate how the incorporation into biomimetic MM nano- carriers influences the excited state dynamics and accessibility to ionic quenchers. To achieve this goal, a few currently administered drugs containing a common naphthalene chromophore, appropriate for fluorescence and LFP experi- ments, have been selected. They include (S)-naproxen (NPX), a known nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, (R)-cinacalcet (CIN), used as calcimimetic agent, and (S)-propranolol (PPN), a sympatholytic nonselective β-blocker employed for the treatment of hypertension (Figure 1A). The MM were prepared from lecithin (L), Ch, and CA following our recently reported procedure. 28 ■ EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Chemicals. Lecithin, prepared from fresh egg yolk, Ch, NPX, PPN hydrochloride, and NaCl were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Steinheim, Germany) and used as received. The methyl ester NPXMe was synthesized as previously reported, 29 and CIN was obtained from commercial Mimpara Received: May 2, 2013 Revised: June 28, 2013 Published: July 17, 2013 Article pubs.acs.org/JPCB © 2013 American Chemical Society 9327 dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp404353u | J. Phys. Chem. B 2013, 117, 9327-9332