An investigation of nifedipine miscibility in solid dispersions using Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is potentially an extremely useful tool for the understanding of drug-polymer interactions in solid dispersions. This is examined and demonstrated for the case of solid dispersions of nifedipine in a polymeric substrate.

Solid dispersions consisting of nifedipine and polyvinyl caprolactam--polyvinyl acetate--polyethylene glycol graft copolymer (Soluplus®) were prepared by freeze drying, melting and solvent evaporation at drug loadings of 10, 30, 50, 70 and 90% w/w. Drug-polymer interactions in the amorphous solid dispersion were estimated by Raman spectroscopy. The correlation between the solid state stability of the drug in a solid dispersion and the extent of drug-polymer interaction was monitored by X-ray diffractometry.

The miscibility limit of nifedipine-Soluplus® was found to be 30% w/w drug loading for all preparation methods. The drug was found to interact with Soluplus®, through a hydrophilic interaction identified by infrared spectroscopy and a hydrophobic interaction which could be quantified by Raman spectroscopy. The average extent of the drug-polymer interaction in the studied amorphous samples at equivalent drug loading was similar, regardless of the preparation method. Inhomogeneities in samples prepared by melting contributed to a wider variation in drug-polymer interaction and poorer solid state stability, in terms of its crystallization tendency.

Raman spectroscopy was shown to be a useful technique in classifying miscibility levels based on the hydrophobic interaction between the drug and the polymer. Different drug loadings showed varying degrees of drug-polymer interaction, and hence variable solid state stability of the solid dispersion.