Polymorphism and kinetic behavior of binary mixtures of triglycerides

The work is aimed at investigating the polymorphism and the phase transition kinetics of binary lipid mixtures with potential application in controlled drug delivery. The lipid systems, constituted of glyceryl tristearate (GTS) added with different amounts (1.0-7.5% w/w) of a medium-chain liquid triglyceride (C₁₀-C₁₂ acyl derivative - MCT), were studied by differential scanning calorimetry, by X-ray diffraction and hot-stage microscopy. The liquid lipid, although present in small amount, modified the thermal profile and the diffraction pattern of the systems, indicating that it promoted the formation of the GTS stable polymorph, β, during the re-solidification of the melted mixture. This promotion effect of MCT was concentration-dependent and evident for systems containing MCT > 2.5%. Also the kinetics of transformation of GTS polymorphs was affected by the percentage of the liquid component. The α → β-transition was a biphasic process which for GTS-MCT mixture (99:1) superimposed that of pure GTS, while followed a different trend for systems containing percentages of MCT higher than 2.5.