[PHARM 2 LAB] LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS

Boiling point

temperature at which a substance changes from a liquid to gas. o It is determined by the temperature at which its vapor pressure equals the pressure outside of the liquid. o The atmospheric pressure affects the liquid's boiling point. As the external pressure is decreased, the boiling point decreases.

Heat of vaporization

Heat required to turn a liquid into a vapor without any rise in the temperature of liquid.

Household and commercial products of alcohol

Disinfectants • Skin and hair products • Antifreeze • Rubbing alcohol • Sanitizers • Cleaning Solutions

Solvent and Intermediate in the production of chemicals products of alcohol

Cements • Primers • Paints • Varnishes

Vapor lowering pressure

A solution containing a non-volatile liquid has a lower vapor pressure than a pure solvent does. It is important because it leads to the boiling point elevation.

Boiling Point Elevation

provides a way to keep track of the solution's saturation level, which is crucial for crystallization.

Freezing Point Depression

This formula can be used to calculate the molar mass of a given solute.

Osmotic Pressure

amount of force required to simply halt the movement of solvent molecules into the solution.

Melting point

defined as the temperature at which the pure liquid and solid exist in equilibrium.

Relevance in pharmacy of melting point

because drugs with a low melting point may soften during a processing step wherein heat is used.

Uses of acetamide

Used in explosives.
Used as a plasticizer.
Used as a hygroscopic agent. Used to manufacture methylamine.
Used as a stabilizer.
Used as a penetrating agent. Used as a fire suppressant.

Absolute density

Mass of any substance per unit volume of a material. It is usually expressed in grams per cubic centimeter or pounds per cubic inch.

Apparent density

A powder's bulk density. It delivers the mass of loosely packed particles per unit volume. This value is a preliminary, affordable assessment of a powder to gauge consistency between lots.

Relative density

Proportion of a substance's density (mass per unit volume) to the density of a specific reference material (i.e., water). Typically, it is tested at ambient temperature (20 °C) and standard atmosphere (101.325kPa). It has no units.

Specific gravity

Decimal ratio of the weight of a substance to the weight of a standard substance of identical volume with both substances having the same temperature or known temperatures. ▪ For liquids and solids, water is utilized as the reference, while air or hydrogen is used for gasses. ▪ Since liquids and solids are the key components of specific gravity calculations in pharmacy, water is a great candidate for a standard because it is widely accessible and simple to purify.

Pycnometer

Specific gravity bottle
Tool for figuring out how dense a liquid is.
Used to measure the liquid's density precisely using an analytical balance and a suitable working fluid like water or mercury.

Hydrometer

Used to measure the density or specific gravity of liquids, among other properties (weight per unit volume compared with water). ▪ Consists of a long, weighted glass bulb with a sealed neck that is submerged in the liquid being measured; the depth of flotation indicates the density of the liquid, and the neck can be calibrated to read density, specific gravity, or another related property

Westphal balance

A balance used to measure the density of heavy liquids ▪ The density of which is then used to measure the density of mineral grains using the sink-float method.

Effervescent salts

granules or coarse powders that contain a medicinal agent in a dry mixture which is usually composed of sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, and tartaric acid.

When water is added, the acids and base present react forming carbon dioxide. The reaction that occurred formed an effervescence or the formation of bubbles.

Dry granulation

process of forming granules without using any liquid solution.

Involves the direct compression of a finely ground powder.

Requires finely powdered compound and tablet presses or roll compactors.

Required when producing tablets from highly moisture and heat sensitive compounds.

Wet granulation

process of forming granules by adding a granulating liquid.

Involves mixing the powder with a granulating fluid, followed by forcing through a sieve to make tablets.

Requires powder particles, a granulating fluid and a sieve.

Required to avoid the destruction of active components in the powder.

Spatulation

In this technique, powders are mixed by scrubbing a spatula across the powders on a piece of paper or porcelain tile. This technique is excellent for mixing: ▪ Small amount of powder. ▪ When solids come into close, sustained contact with one another, they liquefy or combine to form eutectic mixes with very little compacting or compression.

Because homogenous blending might not take place, the approach is not appropriate for powders in large amounts or powders containing one or more powerful chemicals

Trituration

It is used both to reduce particle size and mix powders. ▪ If particle size reduction is desired along with mixing of powders ,a porcelain mortar with a rough inner surface is preferred to a glass mortar with a smooth working surface. ▪ A glass mortar may be preferred for chemicals that may strain a porcelain surface and for simple mixture of substances without special need for comminution. ▪ A glass mortar cleans more readily after use.

Sifting

This procedure produces a light, fluffy product that is often unsuitable for incorporating powerful pharmaceuticals into a diluent foundation. The powders are combined by passing through sifters.

Tumbling

This method are commonly used in industry as big volume powder mixers. Tumbling is the technique of mixing powders in a large container rotated by an electric motor.

Geometric dilution

The method is used when potent substances are to mixed with a large amount of diluent. o The potent drug is placed upon an approximately equal volume of the dilute in a mortar and the substances are slightly mixed by trituration. o A second portion of diluent equal in volume to the powder mixture in the mortar is added and trituration is repeated. o The process is continued ,adding diluent equal in volume to the mixture in the mortar at each step, until all the diluent is incorporated.

Punch method

The punch method is a method of filling a small number of capsules in a pharmacy. o The pharmacists count the exact amount of empty capsules to be filled which guards against filling the wrong number of capsules. o The powder that will be encapsulated is placed on a sheet of clean paper or glass, or porcelain plate. o With the use of a spatula, the powder mix is formed into a cake with a depth of ¼ to ⅓ the length of the capsule body.

Soft gelatin and hard gelatin capsules

Hard gelatin capsules have two separate parts namely a body and a cap whereas soft gelatin capsules are hermetically sealed one-piece capsules and cannot be separated.

When is a tablet placed within a capsule

When some of the active ingredients for a future drug need to be quickly absorbed by the body, the tablet is enclosed in a capsule. Higher absorption of drugs. o The medicine is more likely to enter your bloodstream because capsules have a higher bioavailability. Because of this, capsule formats might be slightly more effective than tablets.

Importance of desiccants

Protection against the effects of moisture vapor as it may subject the drug to oxidation which can cause it to degrade and lose its efficacy. o A pledget of cotton in packaging capsules are used to add additional protection for the contents inside. It restricts the movement of the contents since the cotton takes up space in the bottle

Added substance

To ensure that the product is acceptable in terms of manufacture, appearance, and performance, non-medicinal ingredients added to official preparations, including capsules.

Disintegration test

The capsules are put in the basket-rack assembly, which is then repeatedly lowered 30 times per minute into a fluid bath that is thermostatically controlled to be 37 C and observed for the duration specified in each specific monograph.

The capsules must totally dissolve into a mushy mass without a solid core and just a few pieces of the capsule shell in order to pass the test.

Dissolution test

The same equipment, dissolution medium, and test are used in the compendial dissolution test for capsules as they are for uncoated and plain coated tablets.

Uniformity of weight

Determine the weight fluctuation and/or content uniformity of the dose units to show their uniformity. The following procedure is used to test for weight homogeneity

Content uniformity

The amount of drug substance, as determined by assay, is within the range of 85.0% to 115.0% of the label claim for nine (9) of ten (10) dosage units assayed, with no unit outside the range of 75.0% to 125.0% of the labeled drug content, unless otherwise stated in the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) monograph for a specific capsule. When two or three dose units fall beyond the target range but within the mentioned extremes, additional testing is advised.

Stability testing

To ascertain the intrinsic stability of the active medication molecule and the impact of external conditions (such as temperature, light, humidity), formulation components, and the container and closing mechanism, stability testing of capsules is conducted. The product's expected shelf life and the best storage conditions are determined by a battery of stress, longterm stability, and accelerated stability tests.

Content labeling requirement

Every official capsule needs to include a label that specifies how much of each active component is present in each dosage unit.

Containers for dispensing capsules

The USP has specifications that specify the kind of container that is appropriate for repackaging or dispensing each official capsule and tablet. Depending on the item, the container may need to be tightly sealed, completely closed, resistant to light, or any combination of these.

Moisture permeation test

To ensure that single-unit and unit dose containers are suitable for packaging capsules, the USP mandates that their moisture-permeation properties be determined. Packaging the dosage unit with a color-revealing desiccant pellet, exposing the packaged unit to known relative humidity for a predetermined amount of time, watching the desiccant pellet for color change (indicating absorption of moisture), and comparing the pretest and posttest weight of the packaged unit allow for the measurement of the degree and rate of moisture penetration.

Diluents or fillers

To add necessary bulk and to prepare it at the desired size.

Binders or adhesives

Promote adhesion of the particles of the formulation and maintain the integrity of the final tablet.

Disintegrants

Promote breakup into small particles after administration for ready drug availability.

Antiadherents glidants lubricants

Enhance flow of materials when the tablet dies and prevent fill material from sticking to the punches.

Miscellaneous adjuncts

Colorants and flavorants of the tablet