Preparation of Nano- and Micrometric Ceftazidime Particles with Supercritical Anti-Solvent Technique

Abstract

Nano- and microparticles of ceftazidime were prepared via a supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process. The influences of various processing parameters on the characteristics of the resultant particles were investigated. The experimental results revealed that the product's morphology closely correlated with the phase behavior of the mixtures in the precipitator during particle formation stage. Networked nanospheroids with narrow particle size distribution were produced when the precipitation was operated in either the compressed liquid region or in the supercritical region. However, the particulate products became less uniform as the precipitation was implemented near the critical region. While microspheroids were obtained as the precipitation was conducted in the superheated vapor region, dense films together with microparticles were formed in the vapor-liquid coexistence region. The untreated ceftazidime and the SAS precipitated samples were characterized with wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR). The analysis results indicated that the SAS-processed particles were amorphous and the water content was markedly reduced. Moreover, the molecular structure was still retained after the SAS processing.