Nornizar Anuar

Solubility of carbamazepine co-crystals in ethanolic solution

The study aimed to determine the solubility of carbamazepine (CBZ) co-crystals formed from co-crystal formers (CCFs) of nicotinamide (NIC), saccharin (SAC), succinic acid (SUC) and fumaric acid (FUM) at various temperatures (25-50°C). High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the solubility and the X-Ray Powder Diffraction was used to characterize the crystals. The solubility of CBZ-NIC and CBZ-FUM co-crystals were found to be higher than the solubility of the CBZ for the range of studied temperatures. However, opposite findings was obtained for CBZ-SUC co-crystal as its solubility is lower than the solubility of CBZ. Different trend was found for CBZ-SAC co-crystal in which for temperature lower than 40°C, the solubility of CBZ crystal is higher than the CBZSAC co-crystal. The solubility of CBZ-SAC co-crystal is higher than the solubility of CBZ at a temperature above 40°C. CBZ co-crystals with NIC and FUM have shown to increase the solubility of CBZ by solubility ratio of 1.95 and 1.24 respectively. However, the CBZ co-crystal with SAC was found to have similar solubility value as the CBZ.

Screening for Ibuprofen-Sachharin Co-Crystal Formation in Wet Milling

Co-crystallization process has been used in pharmaceutical industry in producing new class of API solids due to its advantages such as physical stability and solubility.The objective of this study is to characterize the co-crystal formation of ibuprofen with saccharin as a co-crystal former through wet milling by using XRD, FTIR and DSC. A study of co-crystal formation from ibuprofen and saccharin has been conducted by using wet milling with the presence of solvent. The PXRD results showed a new phase which is believed a new crystalline has been successfully formed. The DSC analysis showed a new melting point for the new phase. However, the functional group assessment showed the presence of an unknown functional group in the system.

Formation of fine and encapsulated mefenamic acid form I particles for dissolution improvement via electrospray method

ABSTRACT The potential of using electrostatic atomizer or electrospray in producing fine and encapsulated particle of mefenamic acid (MA) form I with β-cyclodextrin (βCD) was demonstrated in this study. Encapsulated MA-βCD with a molar ratio of 1:2 was prepared in water-ethanol suspension, followed by the electrospray process to atomize the droplet into fine dried particles. The working distance (WD) between the electrospray needle tip and the substrate were varied from 15 to 25 cm. The sizes of encapsulated MA-βCD particles were found to decrease from 91 ± 26 to 42 ± 35 nm as the WD increased. The dissolution rate of encapsulated particles of MA-βCD was found to be higher compared to the particles of as-received MA and the unencapsulated MA. The presence of the encapsulated MA-βCD was proven by a thermal analysis with the disappearance of MA peak after the atomization process. The x-ray diffraction and FTIR analysis showed that the encapsulation occurred with the existence of new solid phase that was expected from interaction between MA and βCD and the appearance of C = C. Further analysis by transmission electron microscopy showed the size and morphology of MA-βCD particles when immersed in water and acetone. Encapsulated MA-βCD particles were solubilized in water but suspended as spherical shape in acetone.

Chemical Engineering students soft-skills in Integrated Project (IP) Part 4

Faculty of Chemical Engineering (FKK) has been implementing Integrated Project (IP) as one of the element in teaching. It is a defined short project formally introduced to combine assignments given by respective lecturers from 3-4 selected courses, mimicking the final year Chemical Engineering Capstone project but students are asked to present the findings in groups. By looking into the results of IP in 2012 and 2013, CDIO has been introduced to overcome issue of unmeasured soft skills, a vital communication aspect for engineers. CDIO has been incorporated by various factors such as disciplinary knowledge, personal and professional skills (problem solving and system thinking), interpersonal skills (communication and teamwork) and CDIO skills (Conceive-Design: experience learning). This paper presents the outcome of soft-skills results on Semester 4 students from Bioprocess Engineering Department (EH222) during their IP presentation in June 2015. Three courses have been involved; Genetic Engineering (CBE 552), Separation (CBE 582) and Chemical Reaction Engineering (CHE 594). Surveys shows that IP4 has been accepted by the students and results vary with implementation as well as students have really shows better soft-skills quality during the IP4 June 2015 through the thorough analysis and focused questions constructed using high-order thinking skill by The Bloom Taxonomy.

Induction Time of L-Isoleucine Crystallization with the Presence of Electric Field

Nucleation signifies the start of phase transition where nuclei of crystalline forms in the solution prior to crystal growth. There is an increasing demand in investigating reliable method to measure the nucleation rate in order to control the process an it has been reported that electric field has been successfully used to control the nucleation consequently the crystallization process. Hence, it becomes the objective of this paper to examine the effect of electric field on the induction time crystallization of L-isoleucine. The experiment was conducted in a 200 mL jacketed reactor where constant stirring was provided by retreat curve impeller and the temperature was regulated using two refrigerated baths. The induction time in this work was found to be lower than system without the application of electric field due to the hydrophobicity of L-isoleucine molecule and competition to form hydrogen bond with water when electrolysis occurs. The interfacial tension calculated shows no significant change with concentration while nucleation rate increases as the supersaturation increases. The critical radius calculated also proves to be smaller and decreases when supersaturation increases. The result also suggests the presence of new crystalline phase for the crystals produced at 48 g/L and supersaturation ratio of 1.08 and 1.14.

Nanoparticle preparation of Mefenamic acid by electrospray drying

Nanoparticles preparation of Mefenamic acid (MA) by using an electrospray drying method was conducted in this study. Electrospray drying is a process that uses electrostatic force to disperse a conductive liquid stream into fine charged droplets through the coulomb fission of charges in the liquid and finally dry into fine particles. Electrospray drying modes operation usually in Taylor cone jet, and it was formed by controlling applied voltage and liquid flow rate. A conductive liquid (2.77–8.55μScm−1) which is MA solution was prepared by using acetone with concentration 0.041 and 0.055 M before pumping at a flow rate of 3–6ml/h. By applying the applied voltage at 1.3–1.5 kV, Taylor cone jet mode was formed prior to the electrospray. During electrospray drying process, solvent evaporation from the droplet was occurring that leads to coulomb disruption and may generate to nanoparticles. The dried nanoparticles were collected on a grounded substrate that was placed at varying distance from the electrospray. MA particle with size range of 100–400 nm were produced by electrospray drying process. Characterization of particles by using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) show that particles formed into polymorph I.