ABSTRACT
This review seeks to provide an overview of various methods by which active ingredients of drugs can be nanonized (converted into sizes ranging in the order of 1-100 nm) in order to improve their dissolution characteristics. It explores why drug dissolution is important for their bioavailability and how particle size, in turn, can affect this process in accordance with the Noyes- Whitney equation. Various techniques involving both bottom-up and top-down approaches for the nanonization of drugs are possible, however some methods prove better than others especially those of the bottom-up type due to lesser energy requirement and time of operation. Though many novel methods for the nanonization of drugs are being introduced for the purpose of improving dissolution of poorly-water soluble drugs, it cannot be substantiated for its use because such methods do not increase the saturation solubility of such drugs.
