Aromatic-aromatic interaction of amitriptyline: implication of overdosed drug detoxification.

The objectives of this work are to explore the pi-pi complexation of amitriptyline with pi electron-deficient aromatic rings and demonstrate the feasibility of pi-pi complexation for overdosed drug detoxification. Water-soluble oligochitosan was chemically modified with dinitrobenzenesulfonyl groups to induce selective binding toward amitriptyline through pi-pi complexation. NMR studies showed that benzenesulfonyl and dinitrobenzenesulfonyl protons were upfield shifted by the addition of amitriptyline, indicating the formation of pi-pi complexes. The pi-pi complexation of amitriptyline is driven primarily by a desolvation driving force, whereas the magnitude of interaction is dictated by the complementrary electrostatic interaction. Isolated rat heart tests revealed that dinitrobenzenesulfonyl oligochitosan prevented the amitriptyline-induced cardiotoxicity and was itself not cardiotoxic. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.