tabletting Flashcards
What is the definition of a tablet
- Tablets are solid preparations consisting of one or more active ingredients and other necessary excipients obtained by compressing uniform volumes of particles. into various shapes and sizes.
- Usually intended for oral administration
- Mainly systemic but some local: -Swallowed whole; after chewing; dissolved in water; retained in mouth (buccal mucosa; slow release prep;)
Compressed tablets
- First patent awarded to William Brockeden 1843
- Used to compress graphite powder into pencil leads and were known as tabloids
Types of tablets
- Tablet triturates (moulded tablets)
- Compressed tablets
- Disintegrating
- Chewable
- Effervescent
- Lozenges
- Sublingual and buccal
- Freeze dried tablets (Zydis)
Advantages of tablets (capsules): production aspect
- Large-scale production at low cost
- Easiest and cheapest to package and ship
- High stability (chemical, mechanical and biological)
- Lightest and most compact formulation
Advantages of tablets (capsules): formulation aspect
- Greatest dose precision with least content variability
- Lend to give special release profile products- enteric coated or MR products
- Product identification is cheap- embossing or monogrammed punch face
Advantages of tablets (capsules): patient aspect
- Ease of handling
- Coating can mask unpleasant taste and improve patient acceptability
- Easy to identify
Disadvantages of tablets
- Some wet drugs resist compression into dense compacts (paracetamol); USE WET GRANULATION
- Drugs with poor wetting, slow dissolution or high dose may be difficult to formulate into a tablet or capsule with the desirable properties: add surfactant, micronize, give as 2 tablets
- Unpleasant taste or sensitivity to oxygen or moisture may add complexity: use coating, film or sugar (ibuprofen), protect using appropriate packaging
Tablet machine or press
- Single punch is known as eccentric
- Rotary- many different manufacturers and capacities
- See BB for pictures
Single punch machine
1) upper punch is raised and lower punch dropped
2) hopper shoe has moved forward over the die and granules fall in
3) Hopper shoe has moved back. Upper punch has come down compressing granules into tablet- volumetric filling
4) Upper punch has moved upwards. Lower pinch has moved upwards to eject tablet and the cycle is repeated
Terms used to describe tablet manufacturing
- Wet granulation
- Dry granulation- slugging roller compaction
- Direct compression- whatever process is used, the first step is mixing
Types of mixing- fill in this slide when you have audio file
- Random mix- no order
- Perfect mix- structured mix exactly in order where we know exactly how it is mixed
- Ordered mix- when particles are adsorbed onto the surface of another molecule
Mixing SD
-The larger the sample size (scale of scrutiny), the smaller the variable
BUT
-Scale of scrutiny (around 500mg-5g) is determined by what you want the data for
the optimum random mix of spherical particles of equal size and density SD=Square root of p(1-p)/n
P= proportion of the component in the mix. n= total number of particles in mix
NB- as proportion of active decreases, SD decreases. Less active, easier mix
Mixing CV
Use Coefficient of variation
-CV is the content standard deviation expressed as a % of the mean content
%CV= SD/mean
Mixing
- The lower the proportion of active, the more difficult it is to mix
- The more particles in a sample, the smaller the deviation
- Small particle size MAY improve mixing; BUT aggregation, dust etc
In addition to mixing powder, flow is also important
- Both tablets dies and capsule shells are filled by volume
- If powder flow is poor and inconsistent, the weight of powder in the same volume will vary
- This leads to tablet or capsule weight variation and dose variation
Measurement of flow
- Angle of repose
- Pour powder through a hole and we get a cone
- We measure the angle of the cone the smaller the angle the greater the flow
- Dynamic angle of repose- spinning drum and we measure the angle of the powder as it spins
Factors affecting flow
- Particle size
- Size distribution
- Particle density
- Particle shape
- Moisture content
- Electrostatic charge
Flow: effect of particle shape
Hausner ratio
V1= initial volume of powder in cylinder
V2= Final volume after n taps
Hauner ratio= V2/V1
-Large drop= poor flow due to large gaps between the particles
-Small drop= good flow beacause the powder has flowed well into cylinder so tapping has very little effect
Improving powder flow
- Control particle size
- Change particle shape or texture
- Control moisture
- Reduce electrostatic charge and earth equipment
- Add glidants- induce flow in poorly flowing powders
- Use force feeder (agitation or vibraiton)
Formulation of tablets: frequently used
EXCIPIENTS
- Wet binders (make granules)- gelatin or starch; HPMC
- Lubricants (reduce friction at die wall)- Mg stearate
- Disintegrant (break up tablet when in aqueous environment): starch
- Diluents- lactose
- Coats
Formulations of tablet excipients: sometimes used
- Anti-adherent
- Colours
- Glidants- help powder flow into the die- gives consitent fill volume and so tablet size