COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR DELIVERY OF MATERIALS
Compositions for delivering release materials, for example drugs, agricultural materials, other bioactive materials, cosmetic materials, organic or inorganic compounds which take part in or catalyse a chemical reaction, a fragrance-emitting material for a vaporizer, or a lubricating material. The release material is associated with a crystalline carrier. The carrier may be a crystalline polymer containing a plurality of crystalline groups or a crystalline monomer which contains a single crystalline group, the crystalline group preferably comprising a straight chain polymethylene radical containing at least 16 carbon atoms. Some of the carriers are obtained by modifying hyaluronic acid, collagen, gelatin, a polysaccharide, a carbohydrate or cyclodextran. The release material may contain a similar crystalline group, for example may be an active compound which has been modified to introduce a crystalline group.
1 . A composition which comprises
(1) a mono-Cy CYC carrier, and
(2) a release material,
the mono-Cy CYC carrier being a non-polymeric compound which
(A) has crystallinity such that the mono-Cy CYC carrier has a crystalline melting temperature, Tp, of least 0° C. and a ΔH of at least 3 J/g, measured as hereinbefore defined, and
(B) has the formula.
Q-Cy
wherein
Cy is a moiety which provides the mono-Cy CYC carrier with its crystallinity, and
Q is a moiety which (i) is free of Cy moieties and (ii) contains at least one functional moiety which associates with the release material.
2 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein the release material contains a Cy moiety.
3 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein the functional moiety is a hydrophilic moiety and the release material contains a hydrophilic moiety.
4 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein the functional moiety comprises a polyoxyalkylene group.
5 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein the functional group forms a covalent link with the release material.
6 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein the functional group is a polar group.
7 . A composition according to claim 1 wherein the mono-Cy CYC carrier has a Tp of 27-100° C.
8 . A composition according to claim 1 which comprises microparticles having an average particle size of 0.5-250μ.
9 . A composition according to claim 1 which contains 2-10% of a CYC polymer as hereinbefore defined
10 . A method of delivering a release material which comprises exposing a composition as claimed in claim 1 to an aqueous environment at a temperature below Tp.
11 - 13 . (canceled)
14 . A composition which comprises.
(1) a reaction product obtained by reacting a compound containing a Cy moiety with a compound selected from the group consisting of hyaluronic is acid, collagen, gelatin, a polysaccharide, a carbohydrate, and cyclodextran, thereby producing a reaction product containing a covalently linked Cy moiety, and
(2) a release material.
15 . A composition according to claim 14 wherein the release material contains a Cy moiety.