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Abstract
The applications of dense gas technology (DGT) in modern particle engineering have shown promising results in producing submicron particles with uniform particle morphology. In this study, two configurations of dense gas antisolvent processes were employed for the micronization, encapsulation and co-precipitation of pharmaceutical compounds.
The encapsulation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) by a pH-responsive polymer (Eudragit® S100) was successfully performed using the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process. Nanocomposites of less than 200nm in diameter with encapsulated SPIONs content as high as 16 wt% were achieved. Magnetic characterization of the product was also performed and the data were fitted by the Langevin equation. The superparamagnetic properties of the composites were preserved and the effective magnetic size was about 10 nm. The magnetically and pH-responsive nanocomposites can be potentially utilized as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents and drug carriers.
Screening experiments of 8 active pharmaceutical ingredients and 5 pharmaceutical excipients were performed using the recently patented atomized rapid injection solvent extraction (ARISE) process. Candidates with promising product morphology and recovery were selected for co-precipitation studies. The co-precipitation of the anti-cancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and poly l-lactic acid (PLLA) was conducted to develop a controlled release system. Experiments were designed based on a two-level, three-factor factorial design, in order to investigate the effects of processing parameters on product characteristics. Submicron PLLA-5FU composites (diameter<0.8 µm) with a drug loading of 7.4 wt% were produced.