Comprehensive solubility study and inter-molecular interactions on fenbendazole dissolved in some aqueous aprotic and protic co-solvent solutions

The isothermal shake-flask saturation method was used to experimentally determine the mole-fraction solubility of fenbendazole in three aqueous co-solvent blends of 1,4-dioxane/acetone/NMP encompassing the range of 283.15 to 328.15 K. The solubility of fenbendazole in various blended solvents ranks NMP + water (4.852 × 10⁻²) > 1,4-dioxane + water (14.81 × 10⁻⁴) > acetone + water (2.285 × 10⁻⁴) with composition of 1,4-dioxane (acetone or NMP) of 1 at 298.15 K. The solubility data rises monotonically with 1,4-dioxane/acetone/NMP concentration at the same temperature. X-ray power diffraction images show that no solvate production or crystal transition appeared throughout the studies. The solubility to solvent composition and temperature was satisfactorily associated by the modified van't Hoff-Jouyban-Acree, quantitative structure–property relationship, and Jouyban-Acree models with relative average deviations of no higher than 7.05 % and root-mean-square deviation of no higher than 1.225 × 10⁻³. In addition, the 1,4-dioxane/acetone/NMP + water blends studied in this paper and the methanol/ethanol/EG/DMF + water blends previously reported both used the extended Hildebrand solubility approach to quantitatively describe the solubility behavior at 298.15 K. The average relative deviations were kept under 4.06 % on both cases. As stated by the examination of the linear solvation energy relationship, the solubility parameter and dipolarity-polarizability of solutions have a significant influence on the solubility variation. The effective method of inverse Kirkwood-Buff integrals was used to investigate the preferred solvation of fenbendazole at 298.15 K. In blends with intermediate and rich ethanol/DMF/1,4-dioxane/acetone/NMP composition areas, the preferred solvation parameters of ethanol/DMF/1,4-dioxane/acetone/NMP displayed positive values, indicating the preferential solvation of fenbendazole by the co-solvents. Thermodynamic examination of the entropy-enthalpy compensation and dissolution parameters for fenbendazole dissolving in blends led to the identification of an enthalpy and/or entropy-driven mechanism as well as an endothermic process. Moreover, the average local ionization energy and electrostatic potential of molecular surface were utilized as effective instruments to demonstrate the microscopic electrostatic properties of acidity and basicity, respectively. The fenbendazole molecule's groups of –N in the five-membered ring and –NH in the straight chain serve as the main targets for electrophilic and nucleophilic assault. The weak interactions between fenbendazole and several solvents were shown using an independent gradient model based on Hirshfeld partition analysis.