Tableting Flashcards
what are the advantages of tableting medications
Convenient and cheap Light and compact Dry so has longer shelf life Accurate dose Can give controlled release can mask taste
Disadvantages of tableting
Difficult to swallow
difficult dilute
difficult for liquid drugs
what id the usual size of tablets
50-500mg
List the general properties a good tablet need to have
Strong: withstand shock, manufacture, packing, shipping, dispensing and use
Must be bioavailable
reproducible and predictable
physically and chemically stable
consistent in weight, mass and content
elegant production quality to aid compliance
What are the types of tablets
Standard tablet Soluble/ dispersible Effervescent Chewable Buccal Sublingual Enteric coating controlled release
What steps are involved in tableting?
1> Mix powdered drugs with diluent
2>Add a suitable wetting agent and blend
3> Pass the moist mass through a suitable mesh screen to make particle size even
4> Dry granules
5> Blend other additives to the granules
6> compress the tablet
7> Add outer coating where necessary
List diluents used in tableting
- Lactose
- Microcrystalline cellulose
- Calcium phosphate
- Calcium sulfate
- Starch
- Dextrose
- Mannitol
- sorbitol
- Sucrose
- Xylitol
What is the purpose of adding a diluent?
This is to bulk up the tablets and make them a good size to tablet them well.
What is used to mix the drug and diluent together?
A cube shaped mixer is used. Rod called baffles ensure the mixing is thorough
Examples of binding agent added to the mixture?
Water Methylcellulose starch paste Gelatin Gum Acacia polyvinylpyrrolidone
What is the purpose of adding a wetting/binding agent?
To turn the powder into granules.
At what stage is the wetting agent added
Can be added along side wetting agent or the powder stage.
How is the wetting/binding agent mixed with the drug and why is it important?
A blender with S shaped blades that rotate.
This crushes granules to ensure that the is not dry powder inside.
What is the typical size of the mesh that the granules are pushed through?
2mm
Why are the granules pushed through a mesh?
This is to make the sizes uniform
How are the 2 ways granules dried
1: Tray dries- Granules spread evenly on a tray and placed in a oven
2: fluid bed dried: minute holes pass gas through the granules till they are suspended in the gas
Why are the granules dried
To make them the right temp to be compressed
What are the other additives added before compression.
Lubricant to stop stick to die well during compression.
Glidant: Allows granules to flow into the dies
Disintegrant: Rapid drug release
- Swelling
- plastic recovery
Types of lubricants added
Hydrophobic: Stearates
Hydrophilic: polyethylene glycols, sodium benzoate, sodium lauryl sulphate, isoleucine, glyceryl behenate, sodium stearyl fumarate
Steps to the compression stages are:
(i) Lower punch falls within the dye, leaving a cavity into which particulate matter can flow under gravity.
(ii) Upper punch descends and the punch tip enters the cavity, confining the particles, which aggregate to form a compact (the tablet)
(iii) The upper punch withdraws and simultaneously the lower punch raises until its tip becomes level with the top of the die. The tablet is thus rejected from the press.
Alternative method to compression when wetting agents can be used:
1>Drug, filler and lubricants are compressed into ‘slugs’ on a heavy duty press (with large flat faced punches)
2>Slugs broken down by milling and screening procedures into granules
Alternatively, the mass may be roller compacted (fed between rollers to form a compressed sheet prior to screening).
When is moist granulation unsuitable
When heat and moisture can be used.