RESEARCH ARTICLE
Recent Advances in Solid-State Analysis of Pharmaceuticals
Syed Nasir Abbas Bukhari*, Ng Shin Hwei , Ibrahim Jantan
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2015Volume: 2
First Page: 13
Last Page: 20
Publisher Id: PHARMSCI-2-13
DOI: 10.2174/1874844901502010013
Article History:
Received Date: 5/3/2015Revision Received Date: 11/6/2015
Acceptance Date: 17/6/2015
Electronic publication date: 31/7/2015
Collection year: 2015
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Current analytical techniques for characterizing solid-state pharmaceuticals include powder x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. Powder x-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry are mainstream techniques but they lack spatial resolution. Scanning electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy provide good chemical and optical characterization but they are not capable of analysing very small nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy and nano-thermal analysis can provide explicit characterization of nanoparticles but they are invasive. Nuclear magnetic resonance offers good spatial resolution but its use is mainly limited by poor sensitivity and high costs. In view of the many challenges posed by existing methods, new and novel techniques are being continually researched and developed to cater to the growing number of solid formulations in the pipeline and in the market. Some of the recent advances attained in the solid-state analysis of pharmaceutical are summarized in this review article.