Application note: Raman monitoring of active coating composition

This application note demonstrates the suitability of Raman spectroscopy using Kaiser’s PhAT technology to monitor active coating…

Pharmaceutical tablets are coated for a variety of reasons, such as to enhance the appearance, taste, chemical stability, or swallowability of the tablet or to create a particular release profile for the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).

Recently a technique called active coating has become more common in the pharmaceutical processing industry. In active coating, the API is included in the tablet’s coating in order to create a multi-step release profile for a single API or to separate two chemically incompatible APIs between coating layers or between the coating and the tablet core.

This presents a special challenge to the coating unit operation because the application of the coating must be precise enough that the active ingredient contained within is present in neither too high nor too low a dose. Therefore, monitoring of this process is important in order to ensure the correct endpoint of the unit operation. This monitoring is difficult because ideally it needs to determine the endpoint accurately, precisely, quantitatively, and non-disruptively to the process. This application note demonstrates the suitability of Raman spectroscopy using Kaiser’s unique noncontact large-spot PhAT technology to accomplish this task.