A structure parameter for porous pharmaceutical tablets obtained with the aid of Wiener bounds for effective permittivity and terahertz time-delay measurement.
A structure parameter that can be used to predict the pattern of arrangement of porous inclusions in pharmaceutical tablets is introduced. By utilizing the effective refractive index of a pharmaceutical tablet obtained from terahertz time-domain measurements, we have shown that there exists a promising correlation between the calculated structural parameter and the porosity of training sets of pharmaceutical tablets, having well-defined characterization. Knowing of the structural arrangement, i.e. combined constituent skeletal-pore elements in series, parallel or mixed within porous media, could serve as a basis for understanding the ingress and permeation of liquids in such media. In the realm of pharmaceutical applications, such knowledge of the structural arrangement of air voids within a medicinal tablet could enable correlation with mechanical strength and dissolution behaviour in aqueous systems.
Institute of Photonics, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland. Electronic address: prince.bawuah@uef.fi.
Prince
P
Bawuah
Institute of Photonics, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland.
Mousumi
M
Chakraborty
School of Pharmacy, Promis Centre, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1617, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland.
Tuomas
T
Ervasti
Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RA, United Kingdom.
J Axel
JA
Zeitler
School of Pharmacy, Promis Centre, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1617, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland.
Jarkko
J
Ketolainen
School of Chemical Technology, Department of Forest Products Technology, Aalto University, FI-00076 Aalto, Helsinki, Finland; Omya International AG, CH-4665 Oftringen, Switzerland.
Patrick A C
PA
Gane
Institute of Photonics, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland.
Kai-Erik
KE
Peiponen
D010539:Permeability; D016062:Porosity; D012995:Solubility; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties; D013607:Tablets / Q000737:chemistry*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods; D055068:Terahertz Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods
D013607:Tablets
Effective medium; Indomethacin; Microcrystalline cellulose; Microstructures; Pharmaceutical tablet; Terahertz