Rational selection of polymers for amorphous drug stabilization is necessary for further successful development of solid dispersion technology. In this paper, we investigate the effect of polymer chain length on the inhibition of amorphous drug recrystallization. To consider this problem, we prepared a drug-polymer blend (in 10:1 drug to polymer ratio) containing bicalutamide (BIC) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with different chain lengths K10, K30, and K90. We applied broadband dielectric spectroscopy to compare the molecular dynamics of investigated samples and thoroughly recognize their crystallization tendencies from supercooled liquid state. Despite the lack of differences in molecular dynamics, we noticed significant changes in their crystallization rates. To rationalize such behavior, we performed positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy measurements. The results showed that the value of free volume was the highest for blend with PVP K90, which at the same time was characterized by the greatest tendency to crystallize. We postulate that the polymer chain, depending on its length, can have different configurations in the space, leading to better or worse sample stabilization. Our results highlight how important is detailed understanding of physical properties of polymers for judicious selection of the best stabilization approach.
Keywords: bicalutamide; crystallization; free volume; polymer chain length; polyvinylpyrrolidone.