Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Design of an Open-Source, Low-Cost Bioink and Food Melt Extrusion 3D Printer
Published on: March 2, 2020
Impact of polymeric excipient on cocrystal formation via hot-melt extrusion and subsequent downstream processing
Maryam Karimi-Jafari1, Ahmad Ziaee1, Javed Iqbal1
1Synthesis & Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC), Department of Chemical Sciences, Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Abstract:
Pharmaceutical cocrystals have gained increasing interest due to their potential to modify the physicochemical properties of drugs. Herein, a 1:1 cocrystal of ibuprofen (IBU) as a BCS class II active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and nicotinamide as coformer was produced using a hot-melt extrusion (HME) process. The effect of process parameters such as barrel temperature and screw speed were studied. It was shown that the addition of polymeric excipient such as soluplus (Sol) decreases the cocrystallization temperature by enhancing the interaction between API and coformer. In order to study the effect of cocrystallization on the tableting properties of IBU-NIC cocrystal, 5 different formulations of pure IBU, IBU-NIC cocrystal, IBU-NIC physical mixture, IBU-NIC-Sol physical mixture and IBU-NIC-Sol cocrystal were tableted by a compaction simulator. Tabletability, compactibility and compressibility were investigated. The sample with IBU-NIC-Sol cocrystal formulation outperformed all the other formulations in terms of tabletability, compactibility and compressibility. Interestingly, this sample was even superior to the IBU-NIC cocrystal sample which verified the advantageous effect of the presence of an excipient. Moreover, dissolution test confirmed a noticeable increase in the dissolution of not only the cocrystal samples but even the physical mixtures of IBU and NIC compared with pure IBU.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Hot Weather Concreting
Mitigating the heat increase in concrete can be economically achieved by shading aggregate stockpiles to prevent heating from solar radiation,...
Pharmaceutical Alternatives: Excipients and Impurities-Related Therapeutic Nonequivalence
Comparing Intermolecular Forces: Melting Point, Boiling Point, and Miscibility
Temporary attractive forces like dispersion are present in all molecules, whether they are polar or nonpolar. They...
Impact of Groups on Groups
Olefin Metathesis Polymerization: Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP)

