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Published on: May 13, 2018
Predicting milling performance of pharmaceutical crystals from elastic modulus.
Soumyadeep Sen1, Tianxiang Gao2, Tianyi Xiang2
1Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States.
Predicting pharmaceutical milling particle size is now possible using a single crystal property, the reduced elastic modulus (Er). This breakthrough enables accurate predictions for fine particle reduction, offering a new physics-based approach for drug development.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Chemical Engineering
- Pharmaceutical Science
Background:
- Predicting pharmaceutical milling outcomes from material properties is challenging.
- Current methods rely on empirical fitting or powder-scale testing, obscuring crystal mechanics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a single-crystal property that quantitatively predicts jet milling particle size reduction.
- To develop a physics-grounded predictive tool for pharmaceutical milling.
Main Methods:
- Nanoindentation was used to measure the reduced elastic modulus (Er) of ten API single crystals.
- These crystals were jet-milled under identical conditions.
- Hertzian contact and fracture mechanics frameworks were applied.
Main Results:
- Reduced elastic modulus (Er) quantitatively predicts fine particle reduction.
- Stiffer crystals lead to finer comminution products.
- A dual-regime model distinguishes between Er-governed (fines) and brittleness index-governed (coarse tail) comminution.
Conclusions:
- Single-crystal nanoindentation provides a predictive tool for pharmaceutical milling.
- The model accurately predicts particle size reduction across diverse systems and literature data.
- This approach requires minimal crystalline material and offers mechanistic insight.
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