Maryam Maghsoodi - Drug applied Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Leila Barghi - School of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Objective(s) Ibuprofen is a problematic drug in tableting, and dissolution due to its poor solubility, hydrophobicity, and tendency to stick to surface. Because of the bad compaction behavior ibuprofen has to be granulated usually before tableting. However, it would be more satisfactory to obtain directly during the crystallization step crystalline particles that can be directly compressed and quickly dissolved. Materials and Methods Crystallization of ibuprofen was carried out using the quasi emulsion solvent diffusion method in presence of surfactant (sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), Tween ۸۰). The particles were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (XRPD) and were evaluated for particle size, flowability, drug release and tableting behavior. Results Ibuprofen particles obtained in the presence of surfactants consisted of numerous plate- shaped crystals which had agglomerated together as near spherical shape. The obtained agglomerates exhibited significantly improved micromeritic properties as well as tableting behavior than untreated drug crystals. The agglomerates size and size distribution was largely controlled by surfactant concentration, but there was no significant influence found on the tableting properties. The dissolution tests showed that the agglomerates obtained in presence of SLS exhibited enhanced dissolution rate while the agglomerates made in the presence of Tween ۸۰ had no significant impact on dissolution rate of ibuprofen in comparison to untreated sample. The XRPD and DSC results showed that during the agglomeration process, ibuprofen did not undergo any polymorphic changes. Conclusion The study highlights the influence of surfactants on crystallization process leading to modified performance.

Direct compression, Emulsion solvent diffusion method, Ibuprofen, Surfactant