Estimation of initial dissolution rate of drug substance by thermal analysis: application for carbamazepine hydrate

Investigating the Physicochemical Stability of Highly Purified Darunavir Ethanolate Extracted from PREZISTA® Tablets

Understanding physicochemical stability of darunavir ethanolate is expected to be of critical importance for the development and manufacturing of high-quality darunavir-related pharmaceutical products. However, there are no enabling monographs for darunavir to illustrate its solid-state chemistry, impurity profile, and assay methods. In addition, the US Pharmacopeia reference standard of darunavir is still not commercially available. It has been also challenging to find reliable vendors to obtain highly purified darunavir ethanolate crystals to conduct the physicochemical stability testing. In the present research, we developed a straightforward and cost-effective approach to extract and purify darunavir ethanolate from PREZISTA® tablets using reverse-engineering and crystallization. Using these highly purified crystals, we thoroughly evaluated the potential risks of degradation and form conversions of darunavir ethanolate at stressed conditions to define the manufacturing and packaging specifications for darunavir-related products. Amorphization was observed under thermal storage caused by desolvation of darunavir ethanolate. The ethanolate-to-hydrate conversion of darunavir was observed at high relative humidity conditions. Moreover, acid/base-induced degradations of darunavir have been investigated herein to determine the possible drug-excipient compatibility issues in formulations. Furthermore, it is of particular interests to allow the production of high-quality darunavir-ritonavir fixed dose combinations for marketing in Africa. Thus, a validated HPLC method was developed according to ICH guideline to simultaneously quantify assays of darunavir and ritonavir in a single injection. In summary, the findings of this study provide important information for pharmaceutical scientists to design and develop reliable formulations and processings for darunavir-related products with improved stability.

A New, More Stable Polymorphic Form of Otilonium Bromide: Solubility, Crystal Structure, and Phase Transformation

A new polymorphic form of otilonium bromide is presented (Form I), and a thorough analysis of its crystal and molecular structure is performed. The compound suffers a temperature-driven first-order phase transition at about 396 K, which transforms it into the polymorph reported by Dapporto P and Sega A (Acta Cryst. 1986;C42:474-478) (Form II). Through thermal analysis and solubility experiments the relative stability of both crystal modifications were determined, confirming that at room temperature this new Form I is the more stable one, Form II existing just in a metastable state.

Anti-solvent co-crystallization of carbamazepine and saccharin

The co-crystal approach has been investigated extensively over the past decade as one of the most promising methods to enhance the dissolution properties of insoluble drug substances. Co-crystal powders are typically produced by mechanical grinding (neat or wet) or a solution method (evaporation or cooling). In this study, high-purity carbamazepine-saccharin (CBZ-SAC) co-crystals were manufactured by a novel method, anti-solvent addition. Among various solvents, methanol was found to perform well with water as the anti-solvent for the co-crystallization of CBZ and SAC. When water was added to the methanol solution of CBZ and SAC at room temperature under agitation, nucleation of CBZ-SAC co-crystals occurred within 2-3 min. Co-crystallization was complete after 30 min, giving a solid yield as high as 84.5% on a CBZ basis. The effects of initial concentrations, focusing on the SAC/CBZ ratio, were examined to establish optimal conditions. The whole anti-solvent co-crystallization process was monitored at-line via ATR-FTIR analysis of regularly sampled solutions. The nucleation and crystal growth of CBZ-SAC co-crystals were detected by a significant increase in absorption in the range of 2400-2260 cm(-1), associated with the formation of hydrogen bonds between the carbonyl group in CBZ and the N-H of SAC. When CBZ hydrates were formed as impurities during anti-solvent co-crystallization, the hydrogen bonding between methanol and water was reduced greatly, primarily due to the incorporation of water molecules into the CBZ crystal lattice. In conclusion, an anti-solvent approach can be used to produce highly pure CBZ-SAC co-crystal powders with a high solid yield.

In Situ Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement (FBRM), Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) and Raman Characterization of the Polymorphic Transformation of Carbamazepine

The objective of this work was to study the polymorphic transformation of carbamazepine from Form II to Form III in 1-propanol during seeded isothermal batch crystallization. First, the pure Form II and Form III were obtained and characterized. Then their solubilities and metastable zone limits were measured by in-situ attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM). A transition temperature at about 34.2 °C was deduced suggesting the enantiotropic nature of this compound over the studied temperature range. To quantify the polymorph ratio during the transformation process, a new in-situ quantitative method was developed to measure the fraction of Form II by Raman spectroscopy. Successful tracking of the nucleation of the stable form and the transformation from Form II to Form III during isothermal crystallization was achieved by Raman spectroscopy and FBRM. The results from these three in-situ techniques, FBRM, FTIR and Raman were consistent with each other. The results showed a strong dependency on the amount of seeds added during isothermal crystallization.

Characterization of coating systems

Polymeric film coatings have been applied to solid substrates for decorative, protective, and functional purposes. Irrespective of the reasons for coating, certain properties of the polymer films may be determined as a method to evaluate coating formulations, substrate variables, and processing conditions. This article describes experimental techniques to assess various properties of both free and applied films, including water vapor and oxygen permeability, as well as thermal, mechanical, and adhesive characteristics. Methods to investigate interfacial interactions are also presented.

Physicochemical Characterization of Tamoxifen Citrate Pseudopolymorphs, Methanolate and Ethanolate

Two novel pseudopolymorphs, methanolate and ethanolate of tamoxifen [(Z)-2-[4-(1,2-diphenyl-1-butenyl)phenoxy]-N,N-dimethylethylamine]citrate, were prepared in addition to forms A and B reported previously. Their crystalline forms were identified and characterized by powder and single crystal X-ray diffractometry, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, hot-stage microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy, and their physicochemical stability was also evaluated. The results of single crystal X-ray analysis and thermogravimetric analysis of methanolate and ethanolate suggested that the stoichiometry of tamoxifen citrate : methanol and tamoxifen citrate : ethanol could be composed of a 1 : 1 molecular ratio for both solvates. The results of physicochemical stability evaluations at 75 and 97% RH at 40 and 60 degrees C indicated that the metastable form A was quite stable for at least 2 months even under severe storage conditions, whereas methanolate immediately transformed to a crystalline mixture of forms A and B, and subsequently changed to the stable form B.

The effect of crystal morphology and mill type on milling induced crystal disorder

Milling is a key process in the preparation of many solid dosage forms. One possible milling induced change is the production of small levels of disorder or amorphous material found predominantly at the surface of a powder, which could lead to significant chemical and physical instability. The influence of crystal habit on this change was investigated using beta-succinic acid, in plate like and needle like morphologies. beta-Succinic acid crystals with these habits were processed in a ball mill and a jet mill. SEM images indicated jet milled material was finer than the ball milled product. Powder X-ray diffraction of the milled powders revealed an amorphous halo at lower angles and peak broadening suggesting disorder though this could not be quantified accurately. In addition, a partial conversion during milling to the alpha form was noted. Quantitation of the alpha form in the milled powders indicated it was present at <2% (w/w). Plate and needle shaped particles had similar heats of solution pre-milling, however, all milled powders had lower heats of solution compared to the unmilled powers. The contribution of the alpha polymorph to the lower heats of solution was calculated to be insignificant. Therefore, the reduced heat of solution is attributed to a loss in crystallinity. The largest decreases were seen in the plate like morphology. These findings suggest that beta-succinic acid crystals with plate like morphology are more prone to crystallinity loss on milling compared to the needle like morphology. The mill type has also been shown to influence the final crystallinity.