Crystal Nucleation of Tolbutamide in Solution: Relationship to Solvent, Solute Conformation, and Solution Structure.

The influence of the solvent in nucleation of tolbutamide, a medium-sized, flexible and polymorphic organic molecule, has been explored by measuring nucleation induction times, estimating solvent-solute interaction enthalpies using molecular modelling and calorimetric data, probing interactions and clustering with spectroscopy, and modelling solvent-dependence of molecular conformation in solution. The nucleation driving force required to reach the same induction time is strongly solvent-dependent, increasing in the order: acetonitrile

Artificial neural network modelling of continuous wet granulation using a twin-screw extruder.

Computational modelling of twin-screw granulation was conducted by using an artificial neural network (ANN) approach. Various ANN configurations were considered with changing hidden layers, nodes and activation functions to determine the optimum model for the prediction of the process. The neural networks were trained using experimental data obtained for granulation of pure microcrystalline cellulose using a 12mm twin-screw extruder. The experimental data were obtained for various liquid binder (water) to solid ratios, screw speeds, material throughputs, and screw configurations. The granulate particle size distribution, represented by d-values (d10, d50, d90) were considered the response in the experiments and the ANN model. Linear and non-linear activation functions were taken into account in the simulations and more accurate results were obtained for non-linear function in terms of prediction. Moreover, 2 hidden layers with 2 nodes per layer and 3-Fold cross-validation method gave the most accurate simulation. The results revealed that the developed ANN model is capable of predicting granule size distribution in high-shear twin-screw granulation with a high accuracy in different conditions, and can be used for implementation of model predictive control in continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Predicting optimal wet granulation parameters for extrusion-spheronisation of pharmaceutical pellets using a mixer torque rheometer.

Mixer torque rheometry (MTR) was evaluated as a pre-production (pre-formulation and optimization) tool for predicting ideal liquid-to-solid ratios (L/S) for extrusion-spheronisation of a wide range of APIs using 10g formulations. APIs of low, medium and high solubility were formulated at low and high loadings (15 and 40% w/w, respectively) with PVP as binder (5%) and MCC as the major excipient. L/S corresponding to the maximum torque produced during wet massing in the MTR, L/S(maxT), was 0.8 for the low solubility APIs, which decreased to 0.6 for some of the more soluble APIs, especially at high loadings. Formulations extruded-spheronised at L/SmaxT) produced pellets of acceptable size (between 900 and 1400um) for all formulations, but mostly of unacceptable shape (dumb-bells of aspect ratio 1.2). Increasing L/S by 25% successfully produced spherical or near-spherical (aspect ratio 1.1) pellets for all formulations except one of the highly soluble APIs (piracetam) at high loading. Overall, MTR was demonstrated to be a useful pre-formulation and optimization tool in extrusion-spheronisation.

Thermodynamic Stability Analysis of Tolbutamide Polymorphs and Solubility in Organic Solvents.

Melting temperatures and enthalpies of fusion have been determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for 2 polymorphs of the drug tolbutamide: FI(H) and FV. Heat capacities have been determined by temperature-modulated DSC for 4 polymorphs: FI(L), FI(H), FII, FV, and for the supercooled melt. The enthalpy of fusion of FII at its melting point has been estimated from the enthalpy of transition of FII into FI(H) through a thermodynamic cycle. Calorimetric data have been used to derive a quantitative polymorphic stability relationship between these 4 polymorphs, showing that FII is the stable polymorph below approximately 333 K, above which temperature FI(H) is the stable form up to its melting point. The relative stability of FV is well below the other polymorphs. The previously reported kinetic reversibility of the transformation between FI(L) and FI(H) has been verified using in situ Raman spectroscopy. The solid-liquid solubility of FII has been gravimetrically determined in 5 pure organic solvents (methanol, 1-propanol, ethyl acetate, acetonitrile, and toluene) over the temperature range 278 to 323 K. The ideal solubility has been estimated from calorimetric data, and solution activity coefficients at saturation in the 5 solvents determined. All solutions show positive deviation from Raoult's law, and all van't Hoff plots of solubility data are nonlinear. The solubility in toluene is well below that observed in the other investigated solvents. Solubility data have been correlated and extrapolated to the melting point using a semiempirical regression model.

Effect of poly ethylene glycol on the mechanical and thermal properties of bioactive poly(ε-caprolactone) melt extrudates for pharmaceutical applications.

This paper investigates the effects of polyethylene glycol (PEG), on the mechanical and thermal properties of nalidixic acid/poly ε-caprolactone (NA)/PCL blends prepared by hot melt extrusion. The blends were characterized by tensile and flexural analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction. Results show that loading PEG in the PCL had a detrimental effect on the tensile strength and toughness of the blends, reducing them by 20-40%. The partial miscibility of the PCL-PEG system, causes an increase in Tg. While increases in the crystallinity is attributed to the plasticisation effect of PEG and the nucleation effect of NA. The average crystal size increased by 8% upon PEG addition. Experimental data indicated that the addition of NA caused loss of the tensile strength and toughness of PCL. Thermal analysis of the PCL showed that on addition of the thermally unstable NA, thermal degradation occurred early and was autocatalytic. However, the NA did benefit from the heat shielding provided by the PCL matrix resulting in more thermally stable NA particles.

Analysis of the structure and morphology of fenoxycarb crystals.

In this paper, we have explored the relationship between surface structure and crystal growth and morphology of fenoxycarb (FC). Experimental vs. predicted morphologies/face indices of fenoxycarb crystals are presented. Atomic-scale surface structures of the crystalline particles, derived from experimentally indexed single crystals, are also modelled. Single crystals of fenoxycarb exhibit a platelet-like morphology which closely matches predicted morphologies. The solvent choice does not significantly influence either morphology or crystal habit. The crystal morphology is dominated by the {001} faces, featuring weakly interacting aliphatic or aromatic groups at their surfaces. Two distinct modes of interaction of a FC molecule in the crystal can be observed, which appear to be principal factors governing the microscopic shape of the crystal: the relatively strong collateral and the much weaker perpendicular bonding. Both forcefield-based and quantum-chemical calculations predict that the aromatic and aliphatic terminated {001} faces have comparably high stability as a consequence of weak intermolecular bonding. Thus we predict that the most developed {001} surfaces of fenoxycarb crystals should be terminated randomly, favouring neither aliphatic nor aromatic termination.

Ethyl N-[2-(4-phen-oxy-phen-oxy)eth-yl]carbamate.

The title compound, C(17)H(19)NO(4), which is a non-toxic insect growth regulator with the common name fenoxycarb, contains two independent and conformationally different mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. Although the inter-ring dihedral angles are similar [62.21 (15) and 63.00 (14)°], the side-chain orientations differ. In the crystal, the mol-ecules are linked through N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding associations, giving chains which extend along [110], while intra- and inter-molecular aromatic C-H⋯π inter-actions give sheet structures parallel to [110].