Qualitative and quantitative study of polymorphic forms in drug formulations by near infrared FT-Raman spectroscopy

Abstract Near infrared FT-Raman spectroscopy was applied for the determination of polymorphic forms in a number of commercial drug products containing the polymorphic drug compounds sorbitol, mannitol, famotidine, acemetacin, carbamazepine, meprobamate and phenylbutazone. The crystal forms present in the drug products were identified based on the position, intensity and shape of characteristic bands. Quantitative analysis of a mixture of two crystal forms of mannitol in a drug product was carried out using a partial least-squares method. In drug products containing meprobamate, sorbitol, and carbamazepine, the thermodynamically stable form was found exclusively, whereas metastable polymorphs were found in solid dosage forms of acemetacin, phenylbutazone, famotidine and mannitol. A mixture of two polymorphic forms of mannitol in Lipobay tablets was determined to consist of 30.8±3.8% of the metastable modification I. The simple sample preparation, the occurrence of sharp bands in the spectra as well as the high reproducibility and accuracy qualifies FT-Raman spectroscopy for the identification and quantification of crystal forms in drug products. The method is perfectly suited to meet the regulatory requirements of monitoring crystal forms during processing and storage and often succeeds in detecting the present crystal form in drug products even when the used excipients are not known.