Quality Assurance

Pharmaceutical drug products or crystallographic samples need some characterization of their particles and some information about the distribution of their compounds (active substances, excipients…). Such characteristics have high influence on the dissolution rate, the bioavailability or the stability of the sample. Thus, it is of great importance to have analytical instrumentations which give such information to insure the quality of the products and also to respect strict regulatory and manufacturing procedures.

Quality control of hand sanitizer gels and 70% alcohol products using Raman spectroscopy

Disinfecting your hands with hydroalcoholic gel has become a daily practice. In the meanwhile, 70° alcohol has been used for even longer to disinfect wounds. But, to remain efficient, the alcohol concentration of these products must not be below a defined threshold and must be controlled. This application note demonstrates how to evaluate alcohol concentrations in a quality control process with Raman.

Quality control of sugar content in beverages using Raman spectroscopy

We all consume or have all consumed sugary drinks at least once. Sugar content of those drinks must be regulated. Also, to avoid those properties of sugar, it has been replaced by sweeteners. These have lower sweetness than natural sugars. Whether it is sugar or sweetener, their content just be controlled. Here, we demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy is one solution to identify and evaluate sugar/sweetener concentrations in a quality control process.

Raman spectra of DayQuil™ and NyQuil™ collected with an immersion probe fiber-coupled to the MacroRAM™ Raman spectrometer, and a picture of the immersion probe setup.

Raman spectroscopy is well known as a powerful analytical method for qualitative chemical analysis. Less well known is that under certain conditions Raman spectroscopy can also be an effective method for quantitative analysis. Here we demonstrate that capability for quantitative analysis under a variety of conditions, involving different solutes in a solution and solution mixtures, and its applications to pharmaceutical analysis such as content uniformity.

Multiple Characterizations of a Blister Pack Using the XGT-9000

The XGT-9000 is HORIBA’s new X-ray microscope. Its analytical versatility allows, multiple characterizations to be performed on a blister pack, from mapping of the full pack to particle size measurements of the capsule content.

Pharmaceutical compounds distribution and cosmetic products analyzed by confocal Raman spectroscopy

In the final step of the formulation process, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries have to control their products to check if the compounds' distribution in the final product, or in its application form, i.e. dispersed on a skin for an intracutaneous product, are homogenous and stable in order to guarantee the product's efficacy. In this paper, we present why confocal Raman microscopy is an excellent tool for product characterization after formulation.

Raman Microscopy in Pharmaceutical Salt Analysis

Pharmaceutical and crystallographic samples typically require detailed characterization and analysis to optimize a samples stability, physical properties and indeed general efficacy where an active drug substance is involved.

Samples can be valuable. Either you don’t want to waste them, or you may not have very much starting material. Biological proteins and enzymes, for example, are often obtained in small volumes and may be expensive.

Resulting from the combination of Raman spectroscopy and optical microscopy, Raman hyperspectral imaging has proven to be an indispensable tool in the pharmaceutical field, especially to study the distribution of active(s) and excipients in a pharmaceutical drug product.