Multispectral UV Imaging for Determination of the Tablet Coating Thickness

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical Technology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Process Analytical Technology (PAT)

Background:

• Tablet coating is crucial for drug delivery and stability.
• Accurate measurement of coating thickness and distribution is essential for quality control.
• Current methods for assessing coating can be time-consuming or destructive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate off-line multispectral UV imaging for determining tablet coating thickness and distribution.
• To compare UV imaging results with traditional methods like weight gain and terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI).
• To assess the potential of UV imaging as a Process Analytical Technology (PAT) tool.

Main Methods:

• Off-line multispectral UV imaging combined with multivariate data analysis.
• Comparison with individual tablet weight gain measurements.
• Validation against coating thickness and distribution data obtained from terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI).

Main Results:

• UV imaging accurately predicted individual tablet weight gain.
• Coating thickness distribution profiles from UV imaging correlated well with TPI measurements.
• UV imaging demonstrated high measurement speed and sensitivity.

Conclusions:

• Multispectral UV imaging is a rapid and non-destructive technique for assessing tablet coating.
• UV imaging shows significant potential as a PAT tool for real-time coating process monitoring.
• The method's speed, sensitivity, and cost-effectiveness support its application in pharmaceutical manufacturing.