Preparation and characterization of soluble branched ionic β-cyclodextrins and their inclusion complexes with triclosan

•Branched anionic and cationic β-cyclodextrins were obtained from parent β-CDs.•Water solubility of ionic branched β-cyclodextrins (bβCD) was higher than neutral ones.•No cytotoxic effects were observed for ionic bβCDs.•Ionic bβCDs form complexes with triclosan but show a complexation limit.•Complexes of triclosan with anionic bβCDs showed higher stability constant than with cationic bβCDs. This study aims to synthesize, characterize and investigate the water solubility and cytotoxicity of branched anionic/cationic β-cyclodextrins (bβCDs) obtained by reaction with epichlorohydrin and chloroacetic acid or choline chloride, respectively, by a single step polycondensation reaction. Obtained ionic bβCDs were investigated as an attempt to comparatively study anionic and cationic bβCDs. Water solubility of both ionic derivatives was similar (400mg/mL) at neutral and basic pHs and remarkably higher than that of their neutral homologues. Additionally, a pH-dependent solubility of anionic bβCDs was observed. Cytotoxicity of ionic bβCDs was evaluated on Human colon carcinoma Caco-2 cells and high cell viability (>99%) was observed in the range of 0–100mg/mL for anionic and cationic samples, in the same range of that of neutral and parent β-CDs. Additionally, complexes formation capacity with triclosan, a poor water soluble antimicrobial agent, was confirmed by several techniques observing a complexation limit around 4mg/mL for both systems and higher stability constant for anionic bβCDs than cationic derivatives.