Robust Wet Milling Technique for Producing Micronized Ibuprofen Particles with Improved Solubility and Dissolution

This study investigated a systematic approach for producing ibuprofen (IBF) particles with leucine by wet milling. Using a high shear homogenizer, the particles size of the IBF was reduced. Prepared IBF microparticles were freeze-dried and characterized by using Mastersizer, SEM, DSC, XRD, ATR-FTIR, and TGA. The drug saturation solubility and in-vitro dissolution performance were carried out in phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 7.4) at 37°C temperature and IBF were determined using a validated HPLC method. The wet-milled method reduced the particle size from 71.3 to 1.7 μm. The minimum particle size of IBF was obtained in 0.05% Tween 80 solution homogenized at 17,000 rpm for 15 min. The saturated solubility (168.7 µg/mL) of the micronized IBF particles with leucine showed higher compared to that of the original IBF (147.4 µg/mL) in PBS solution. The prepared IBF particles containing 2.5-6.25% leucine showed significantly higher IBF release (100%) compared to that of original drug particles (55.9%) in 120 min. The excipient leucine played a major role in enhancing the solubility and dissolution profile of the prepared IBF particles probably by the formation of hydrogen bonding. The developed wet milling was an efficient and robust technique for reducing the particle size of IBF and could be a useful method for manufacturing drug particles with enhanced solubility and dissolution.