Chemical and Physical Transformation Monitoring by Raman and IR Spectroscopies

During the lengthy process of pharmaceutical development, an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) or its intermediates can go through many physical and chemical changes. These changes are needed to produce the API with the correct chemical structure and physical property. Monitoring the progress of these transformations is important for the process understanding as well as serving as a tool for in-process control (IPC) to ensure the completeness of the transformation. IR and Raman Spectroscopies are sensitive to both chemical and physical changes of a compound and have evolved into useful tools in our lab for monitoring both chemical and physical transformations. They can be used to monitor the progress of the chemical reaction leading to the desired product, the slurry-to-slurry form transformation leading to the desired crystalline form, and the instability of API leading to undesired degradant. When used in-line, they can also be used to study the kinetics of a chemical reaction as well as the rate of crystalline form conversion... Followed by Utility of Raman spectroscopy in continuous processing of liquids and solids An important consideration in successful continuous manufacturing is integrating analytical tools into the flow. In batch reaction monitoring, on-line and at-line analyses enable Quality by Design (QbD) and ensure stable operations. Intense reaction conditions, non-traditional chemistries, high throughput and speeds, and miniaturized reactors are challenging environments for analytical tools originally developed for batch reaction monitoring. We present process Raman technologies adapted for continuous manufacturing processes in liquids and solids. Over the last 20 years, Raman spectroscopy has become an established technique for process monitoring and control, with applications in continuous manufacturing of liquids and solids...