ABSTRACT
The ability of surfactants to enhance the solubility of otherwise poorly water-soluble compounds in an aqueous solution is widely known and used in many aspects of drug formulation development (Florence 1981; Sweetana and Akers 1996). For example, surfactants are used as wetting agents to improve tablet dissolution, (Ruddy et al. 1999; Chen and Zhang 1993; Buckton et al. 1991; Efentakis et al. 1991) and are com monly used in the media for dissolution testing to m aintain sink conditions for the drug (Nagata et al. 1979; Crison, Weiner, and Amidon 1997; Rao et al. 1997). Addition ally, the biologically relevant surfactants, bile salts, are responsible for solubilization and transport of fats and oils during digestion and likely facilitate dissolution and transport of poorly water-soluble drugs in the intestinal fluid (Humberstone, Porter, and Charman 1996.
