Interaction of the antibiotic norfloxacin with ionic micelles: pH-dependent binding

The interaction of the antimicrobial drug norfloxacin (NFX) with anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles was studied using the intrinsic spectroscopic properties of NFX to obtain association constants and molecular modifications. Nonionic Tween^® 20 micelles were also investigated, but the spectroscopic properties of NFX did not detect interactions with these micelles, and quenching by iodide suggested a weak association constant around 47 M^?1. For SDS and CTAB, UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, steady-state and time-resolved fluorometry were monitored as a function of surfactant concentration ranging from the premicellar to micellar region. It was found that cationic (pH 4.0) and zwitterionic NFX (pH 7.4) associate with SDS micelles, with binding constants equal to 5.4 × 10³ and 1.7 × 10³ M^?1, respectively. Premicellar interaction slightly decreases the critical micelle concentration of SDS. Association of anionic NFX (pH 10.6) is very weak. The fluorescence spectrum and lifetime showed that SDS-associated NFX is cationic and that the heterocycle penetrates the interfacial environment of decreased polarity. Cationic CTAB micelles do not bind cationic NFX, and the association constant with zwitterionic NFX is two orders of magnitude lower than that of SDS micelles. From a pharmacological point of view, it is important that at neutral pH, NFX presented a two orders of magnitude higher affinity for anionic than for cationic sites, and did not interact significantly with nonionic or zwitterionic micelle interfaces.