Cyclodextrin sulfates: characterization as polydisperse and amorphous mixtures.

Alpha- and beta-cyclodextrins and their hydroxypropyl derivatives were converted by the reaction with chlorosulfonic acid in pyridine to the corresponding sulfates. Cyclodextrin sulfates were shown by fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry (negative ion mode, triethanolamine matrix) to be mixtures with nearly symmetrical distributions of degree of substitution by sulfate groups and by powder X-ray diffraction to be amorphous. Thus, in these aspects, cyclodextrin sulfates are similar to the potent drug solubilizers hydroxypropylcyclodextrins.