Solid Dosage Forms - powders and granules Flashcards
What are powders?
Pharmaceutical dosage form in Heinrich a drug has been mixed with other powdered excipients e.g. Colouring, flavouring and sweetening agents (for oral use) to produce the final product
What are examples of solid dosage forms?
Powders
Granules
Tablets
What are granules?
Powder particles which have been aggregated using solvent to form large particles with a diameter of approx 2-4mm
What is different about granules used as a dosage form?
These granules are much larger than those prepared as an in-process material for tablet manufacture
What is an advantage of granules over powders ?
Granules have been designed to overcome problems associated with the use of powders such as segregation
What are the types of dispensed solid dosage form preparations and their uses?
Internal use:
Bulk powders or granules
Divided powders or granules (single preparations)
External use:
Dusting powders
Other:
Insufflations for ear/nose/throat administration
Antibiotic powders for reconstitution before use
What are the advantages of powders and granules?
More chemically stable than liquid dosage forms
Convenient form of dispersing drugs with large doses e.g. Antacids
Faster dissolution rate compared to tablets and capsules
What are the disadvantages of powders and granules?
Less convenient for patient to carry
Not suitable for administration of potent drugs with low doses
Difficult to mask unpleasant tastes
Not suitable for administration of drugs that are inactivated, not absorbed or destroyed in stomach or cause gastric irritation
What are the different classes of powders?
Bulk powders Divided powders Dusting powders Dry powder inhalers Powdered antibiotic for reconstitution
What are bulk powders?
A mixture of ingredients packed into large containers such as glass or jars.
- non potent
- can be dosed with acceptable accuracy and safety just by using measuring devices (e.g. Teaspoon, cup, etc)
- ingredients usually non toxic if they are given in large doses (e.g. Magnesium trisilicates and chalk in antacids)
What are divided powders?
Single doses of powdered medicinals which are individually wrapped in cellophane, metallic foil, or paper satchels.
What are dusting powders?
- Formulation used for therapeutics, prophylactic or lubricant purposes.
- for external use only
- requires good flow properties so they can be dusted over the skin
- dispensed in glass or metal containers with a perforated lid
- e.g. Baby powder
What are dry powder inhalers?
- used to extensively deliver active ingredients to lungs (e.g. in asthma & COPD )
- there are now a many commercial preparations available in the market as dry powders for inhalation in sophisticated devices e.g. Terbutaline
What are oral antibiotic powders?
- powders or granules intended for preparation of solution or suspension
- designed for patients who have difficulty swallowing whole tablets or capsules
- designed to overcome instability problems of some drugs
- reconstituted by adding water at time of dispensing
- reconstituted syrup or suspension has shelf life of 1-2 weeks
What are the different granule preparations?
Bulk granules
Divided granules
What are bulk granules?
- contain medicaments of low toxicity in high doses
- e.g. Methylcellulose used as bulk laxative (1-4g/day)
What are divided granules?
- small particles containing medicinal agent in a dry mixture usually composed of sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and tartaric acid
- releases gas in contact with water resulting in effervescence
What is micromeritics?
The science and technology of small particles
What is the unit of particle size most frequently used in micromeritics ?
μm
Why is particle size studied?
Particle size influences production of formulated medicines as solid dosage forms e.g. Tablets vs. Capsules
Powders with different particle sizes can have different flow and packing properties, affecting the production of tablets and capsules
Particle size affects rate of release of drug into solution and its bioavailability e.g. Griseofulvin
How is particle size of an individual particle defined?
If the particle is spherical, its size is expressed in diameter
If the particle is non spherical, the solid particle is often considered to approximate a sphere
The hypothetical sphere particle is expressed by its equivalent spherical diameter
What are the methods of determining particle size?
Sieving Microscopy Coulter counter/sensing zone counters Laser light scattering Sedimentation
How are the methods of determining particle size selected?
Based on The size range of sample If the sample is wet or dry If a manual or automatic determination is required The speed of analysis
What is sieving?
The oldest method of classifying powders and granules by particle-size distribution based on the intermediate size dimension (width)
Particle size analysis is carried out in the dry state
What are the limitations of using the sieve method?
A large amount (at least 25g) of sample is required
It is difficult to sieve oily or other cohesive powders or granules that tend to clog the sieve openings
The sample needs to have good flow property or it will affect the measurement
If there is a lot of material greater than the sieve size, this will block the holes.
If the load is too large, this can also block the holes.
The sieves can be damaged or worn resulting in larger particles passing through
How are the sieves in the sieve method arranged?
They are arranged in a series with the coarsest sieve at the top and the pan at the bottom.
The holes in the sieve increase in size by a constant factor (usually double the size at the second sieve)
How is sieving conducted?
This technique requires a set of standard sieves arranged so that the largest sieve is at the top, and the smallest sieve is at the bottom with trays in between,
The sample is placed at the top shelf and allowed for the machine to shake the sieve vertically for a period of time.
After that you examine the sieves and retain the material for particle size analysis
What type of particles is the sieving method more suited for?
Larger particles. This is because the size range of this technique according to international standard organisations, can be from 45-1000μm
However, in practice, there are sieves with larger ranges from 5-125,000μm
There are also different types of sieves, PC, USP etc.
What kind of powders are defined as very coarse?
Those with a mesh opening size >1000 microns
And a mesh size diameter of 2-10
What kind of powders are defined as coarse?
Those with a mesh opening size of 355-1000 microns
And a mesh size diameter of 20-40
What kinds of powders are moderately coarse?
Those with a mesh opening size of 180-355 microns
And a mesh size number of 40-80
What type of powders are fine?
Those with a mesh opening size of 125-180 microns
And a mesh opening size of 80-120
What types of powders are very fine?
Those with a mesh opening size of 90-125microns
And a mesh size number of 120-200
What type of particle sizes is optical microscopy best suited to measure?
1-1000μm as this is the size range of microscopy
What are the requirements of particles measured by microscopy?
Particles must be suspended in a medium (not dissolved)
This medium must be viscous enough to prevent movement and separate particles without breaking agglomerates
What type of microscope is used to measure particle size?
Graduated microscope or graticule
What are the different kinds of diameters associated with microscopy?
da: projected area diameter
dp: projected perimeter diameter
df: feret’s diameter
dm: Martin’s diameter
What is the difference between dp and da?
The projected perimeter diameter is that of a circular perimeter around the particle
The projected area diameter is that of a circular area around a particle (i.e. The diameter of the bulk area of the particle)
What is the limitation of using feret’s diameter?
It is affected by the orientation of the sample
What are the limitations with microscopy?
Slow and tedious
Requires at least 500 particles
Eye strain
Phone to operator error
What are alternatives to optical microscopy?
Scanning electron microscopy
Transmission electron microscopy
How is a SEM used?
The sample is stained with heavy metal salts
The microscope images the sample surface by scanning it with a high energy beam of electrons through magnetic coils (instead of using light and lenses)
What are the range of particle sizes that is suitable to be studied using transmission electron microscopy?
0.001-0.005 μm
What are the range of particle sizes that can be used to study with scanning electron microscopy?
0.005-1000μm