Determination of drug dissolution using a quartz crystal microbalance

Authors

Janpierre A. Bonoan, University of the Pacific
X. Li
Shelly Gulati, University of the PacificFollow

Document Type

Poster

Department

Bioengineering

Conference Title

2014 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting and Exposition

Location

San Diego, CA

Conference Dates

November 2-6, 2014

Date of Presentation

11-6-2014

Abstract

Purpose To develop a method to determine drug dissolution using micrograms of a sample. Methods Benzoic acid was dissolved in isopropyl alcohol and 150 μg of benzoic acid was deposited on a quartz crystal. After evaporation of the solvent, the quartz crystal was loaded onto the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) with an attached flow-through cell and deionized water was used as the dissolution medium at the flow rates of 1000, 100, and 10 μL/min. As the benzoic acid was dissolved by the deionized water, the QCM measured the change in resonance frequency due to the change in mass. Using a 100 millisecond gate-time, the sensitivity of the QCM is 18 ng/cm². With the corresponding change in frequency (and therefore mass), the dissolution rate of the sample was determined. Results Dissolution profiles from the dissolution of benzoic acid using a flow of deionized water on a QCM exhibit a mass loss profile that is similar to current methods. Additionally, decreasing the flow rate of the solvent decreases the rate of dissolution, resulting in average dissolution rates of 4.09x10^-2, 5.80x10^-3, and 1.25x10^-3 mol/h using 1000, 100, and 10 μL/min flow rates respectively. The dissolution profiles exhibit a decrease in dissolution rate with decreased hydrodynamic forces. The profile is similar to current standardized methods. Conclusion The feasibility of using a QCM to determine the dissolution rate is demonstrated. The sample requirement for the determination of dissolution rate is at the microgram scale and the time requirement is well-within an hour. It is observed that a QCM can be used to find the dissolution rate of drugs in as little as 2 minutes. With the QCM being sensitive to mass changes of 18 ng/cm², this method requires only several hundred micrograms of sample per trial, which is several orders below that of current methods.

Recommended Citation

Bonoan, J. A., Li, X., & Gulati, S. (2014). Determination of drug dissolution using a quartz crystal microbalance. Paper presented at 2014 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, CA.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/soecs-facpres/50