WORLD
Microwaves enable co-crystallisation to improve properties of drugs
Baku, June1 (AZERTAC). Microwave radiation could provide a faster more and environmentally-friendly way to manufacture drugs, according to researchers at Bradford University.
Published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, CrystEngComm, the research is the first to show that microwave radiation can be effectively used for co-crystallisation, a process which creates single crystals constructed from two compounds.
According to the university, drugs manufactured from these co-crystals can have improved properties such as longer shelf-life, improved solubility and easier absorption into a patient`s bloodstream.
Using caffeine and maleic acid caffeine and maleic acid as example compounds, the researchers achieved 100 per cent crystallisation in one minute using very little solvent.
Prof Paradkar, director of Bradford University`s Centre for Pharmaceutical Engineering, said, `We chose caffeine and maleic acid as these compounds have different levels of solubility which is a common problem in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The team worked with five different solvents, of which water and methanol produced the best results. These two solvents were able to transmit the heat from microwave radiation more effectively than the others tested: acetone, ethyl acetate and toluene.