Influence of substitution pattern on solution behavior of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose.

Industrially produced hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) is a chemically heterogeneous material, and it is thus difficult to predict parameters related to function on the basis of the polymer's average chemical values. In this study, the solution behavior of seven HPMC batches was correlated to the molecular weight, degree of substitution, and substituent pattern. The initial onset of phase separation, so-called clouding, generally followed an increased average molecular weight and degree of substitution. However, the slope of the clouding curve was affected by the substitution pattern, where the heterogeneously substituted batches had very shallow slopes. Further investigations showed that the appearance of a shallow slope of the clouding curve was a result of the formation of reversible polymer structures, formed as a result of the heterogeneous substituent pattern. These structures grew in size with temperature and concentration and resulted in an increase in the viscosity of the solutions at higher temperatures.

Influence of different polymer types on the overall release mechanism in hydrophilic matrix tablets.

The effect of three different types of polymer chain structures on the polymer release from hydrophilic matrix tablets was investigated by comparing a synthetic semi-crystalline linear polymer (PEO), a branched amorphous polysaccharide (dextran) and an amorphous substituted cellulose derivative (HPMC). The polymer release rates for tablets containing mixtures of high and low molecular weight grades in different ratios were determined by using a modified USP II method and a SEC-RI chromatography system. The results showed that independent of polymer type: (i) plots of the release versus time had similar shapes, (ii) the release of long and short polymer chains was equal and no fractionation occurred during the release and (iii) the release rate could be related to the average intrinsic viscosity of the polymer mixtures. This confirms the hypothesis that the release rate can be related to a constant viscosity on the surface of the hydrophilic matrix tablet and that it is valid for all the investigated polymers.

Programmed cross flow asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation for the size separation of pullulans and hydroxypropyl cellulose.

Different functions for the programming of the cross flow in asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation were studied with the aim to find the flow conditions most suitable for the molar mass distribution analysis of high molecular weight polysaccharides. A mixture of four differently sized pullulans covering the molar mass range 5.8 x 10(3)-1.6 x 10(6) g mol(-1) were used as a model sample. Two types of programs were studied, linear and exponential decays, both with and without initial periods of a constant cross flow. For comparison, nonprogrammed runs, i.e. using constant cross flow, were studied. It was found that exponentially decaying cross flow gave the most uniform molar mass selectivity across the fractogram. The programmed cross flow was applied to the molar mass distribution analysis of a technical quality of hydroxypropyl cellulose.

Molecular information on the dissolution of polydisperse polymers: Mixtures of long and short poly(ethylene oxide).

A systematic study of the dissolution of dry, polydisperse poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) samples, obtained from mixtures of low-molecular-weight and high-molecular-weight PEO, was made. During the dissolution process, the individual release of the low- and high-molecular-weight fractions was monitored. The high-molecular-weight/low-molecular-weight ratio controls the release rate, and the fraction of high-molecular-weight polymers dominates the effect on the overall release rate in mixed PEO tablets. Both fractions are released at the same rate during the main part of the dissolution process; however, during the initial dissolution period a fractionation occurs. The release rate is not a unique function of the average molecular weight of the polymer, but also depends on the polydispersity. By contrast, the average dimension of a polymer coil, as given by the intrinsic viscosity, gives a good prediction of the release rate irrespective of the polydispersity or details of the molecular weight distribution.

Interactions between sodium dodecyl sulphate and non-ionic cellulose derivatives studied by size exclusion chromatography with online multi-angle light scattering and refractometric detection.

The novel approach described allows to characterise the surfactant-polymer interaction under several sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) concentrations (0-20 mM) using size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with online multi-angle light scattering (MALS) and refractometric (RI) detection. Three different cellulose derivatives, hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), have been studied in solution containing 10 mM NaCl and various concentrations of sodium dodecyl sulphate. It is shown that this approach is well suited for successful application of both Hummel-Dreyer and multi-component light scattering principles and yields reliable molecular masses of both the polymer complex and the polymer itself within the complex, the amount of surfactant bound into the complex as well as appropriate values of the refractive index increment (dn/dc)micro, of both the complex and the polymer in question. The more hydrophobic derivatives HPC and HPMC adsorbed significantly more SDS than HEC. The inter-chain interactions close to critical aggregation concentration (cac) were clearly seen for HPC and HPMC as an almost two-fold average increase in polymer molecular mass contained in the complex.

Distribution analysis of ultra-high molecular mass poly(ethylene oxide) containing silica particles by size-exclusion chromatography with dual light-scattering and refractometric detection.

Two different size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) systems, connected in-line either to a low-angle light scattering (LALS) or to a multiangle light scattering (MALS) detector, are employed for determination of molecular mass distributions (MMD) of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) samples having a weight average molecular mass up to eight millions. The detrimental effect of the presence of strongly scattering silica particles in the samples on the light scattering signal can be eliminated using a suitable sample dissolution procedure utilizing silica solubility in aqueous mobile phase. The selection of flow-rate and sample concentration have a large impact on the obtained results. Hydrodynamic retardation phenomena and nonlinearity effects are shown to introduce severe errors in the molecular mass distributions unless flow-rate and sample concentration are kept at sufficiently low levels. Self-compensating ability of the dual detection in flow-rate effects is shown to be the main advantage here. A good agreement between the results obtained using LALS and MALS detection is found provided that a carefully selected angular extrapolation procedure is used in the case of MALS data. Thus, using carefully selected experimental conditions, SEC with light-scattering (LS) and refractometric detection proved to be an efficient technique for MMD characterisation also of ultra-high molecular mass (UHM) PEO polymers.

Tuning the polymer release from hydrophilic matrix tablets by mixing short and long matrix polymers.

In this work a rotating disc method was developed for studying the dissolution process of "bimodal" polymer tablets, whose dissolution rates have been tuned by mixing low-molecular weight and high-molecular weight samples of poly(ethylene oxide) in various proportions. The tablets were prepared along different routes, by mixing the polymer fractions as powders or by mixing on a molecular level so that the effect of tablet heterogeneity could be assessed, but also by purifying the original powders so the effect of additives could be determined. When the mixed tablet was dominated by the low-molecular weight fraction, a faster dissolution was observed for the tablet mixed at the powder level. In those cases small gel pieces were released from the tablet during the whole dissolution process. As long as no gel piece erosion was observed, it did not matter if the two polymer fractions were blended on the molecular level or on the powder level, the steady-state dissolution rate was the same. The presence of small amounts of additives in the nonpurified commercial samples had no significant effect on the tablet dissolution within the uncertainty of the experiment.

Molar mass characterization of cationic methyl methacrylate-ethyl acrylate copolymers using size-exclusion chromatography with online multi-angle light scattering and refractometric detection.

Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) combined with online multi-angle light scattering (MALS) and refractometric (RI) detection has been employed for the molar mass characterisation of water-insoluble cationic methyl methacrylate-ethyl acrylate copolymers (Eudragit RS and RL). Due to their positive charge, cationic polymers are particularly difficult to separate on a SEC column, in worst cases being completely adsorbed on the oppositely charged packing material. This work has examined how a careful addition of salt (LiCl) to the copolymer solution in ethanol decreases the electrostatic interactions, clearly seen as a decrease in elution volume from the SEC column as well as an improved recovery. At a certain level of ionic strength, typically about 50 mM, the copolymer recovery from the SEC column reached 100% and molar mass distributions corresponding to the complete sample could be obtained. The combined MALS/RI detection gives the opportunity to measure the absolute molar mass independent of recovery and retention. Thus, in this study, it turned out to be a favourable tool for tracing the changes in elution behaviour of the charged copolymer as the ionic strength was increased.

Molecular mass distribution analysis of ethyl(hydroxyethyl)cellulose by size-exclusion chromatography with dual light-scattering and refractometric detection.

Dual low-angle light scattering and refractometric detection coupled to size-exclusion chromatography provided proof for the presence of a low amount of stable aggregates/particles in ethyl(hydroxyethyl)cellulose. Unlike the correct size-exclusion chromatographic behavior of the parent polysaccharide itself, the aggregates exhibit variable size-dependent weak retention as a function of flow-rate and of ionic strength of the aqueous mobile phase. Therefore, determination of the molecular mass of non-aggregated polymer is possible in aqueous mobile phase containing 0.1 M NaCl under conditions at which aggregates are completely adsorbed on the column packing irrespective of the flow-rate used. Flow-rate and ionic strength-dependent variations of aggregate behavior as well as model size-exclusion experiments with latex particles indicate that they partly carry a minute charge and have a compact structure. Their weak retention under the separation conditions used suggests a difference in their surface chemistry when compared with the dissolved polymer coils which exhibit a correct size-exclusion behavior.

Development of a size exclusion chromatography method for the determination of molar mass for poloxamers.

An aqueous size exclusion chromatography (SEC) method for determination of the molar mass of poloxamers 188 and 407 has been developed as an alternative to the pharmacopoeia methods. During the development work two different columns and several different eluent compositions were investigated. With a PL-aquagel-OH column, non-exclusion behaviour was obtained. A TSKgel column gave good separation of both poloxamers. The best separation was obtained with an eluent consisting of sodium chloride (0.01 M)-methanol (90:10, v/v) on the TSKgel column. The method was shown to be linear within the elution time of the two poloxamers and to have acceptable precision. The results from the SEC method was compared to results obtained using SEC with online multi angle light scattering detection (MALS) and to results obtained with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS).

The consequence of the chemical composition of HPMC in matrix tablets on the release behaviour of model drug substances having different solubility.

This study investigates the effect of the chemical heterogeneity of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) on the release of model drug substances from hydrophilic matrix tablets. The hypothesis was that the release of drug substances could be influenced by possible interactions with HPMC batches having different chemical heterogeneity. The cloud point of the most heterogeneous batch was more affected by the model drug substances, methylparaben and butylparaben, and most by butylparaben with the lowest solubility. The different clouding behaviour was explained by the heterogeneously substituted batches being more associative and the more lipophilic butylparaben being able to interact more efficiently with the hydrophobic HPMC transient crosslinks that formed. Interestingly, tablet compositions of the heterogeneously substituted HPMC batches released the more soluble methylparaben at lower rates than butylparaben. The explanation is that the hydrophobic HPMC interactions with butylparaben made the gel of the tablet less hydrated and more fragile and therefore more affected by erosional stresses. In contrast, drug release from compositions consisting of the more homogeneously substituted batches was affected to a minor extent by the drugs and was very robust within the experimental variations. The present study thus reveals that there can be variability in drug release depending on the lipophilicity of the drug and the substituent heterogeneity of the HPMC used.

Release of theophylline and carbamazepine from matrix tablets--consequences of HPMC chemical heterogeneity.

The release of theophylline and carbamazepine from matrix tablets composed of microcrystalline cellulose, lactose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) was studied. The aim was to investigate the effect of different substituent heterogeneities of HPMC on the drug release from matrix tablets composed of either 35% or 45% HPMC. The release of the poorly soluble carbamazepine was considerably affected by the HPMC heterogeneity, and the time difference at 80% drug release was more than 12h between the formulations of different HPMC batches. This was explained by slower polymer erosion of the heterogeneous HPMC and the fact that carbamazepine was mainly released by erosion. In addition, results from magnetic resonance imaging showed that the rate of water transport into the tablets was similar. This explained the comparable results of the release of the sparingly soluble theophylline from the two formulations even though the polymer erosion and the swelling of the tablets were considerably different. Thus, it can be concluded that the drug release was highly affected by the substituent heterogeneity, especially in the case of carbamazepine, which was released mainly by erosion.

The effect of substitution pattern of HPMC on polymer release from matrix tablets.

The purpose of this study was to gain further understanding of how the substituent heterogeneity of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, HPMC, affects the polymer release from hydrophilic matrix tablets. The hypothesis was that the heterogeneous substituent pattern facilitated hydrophobic interactions that increased the viscosity and therefore affected the release rate to a major extent. Polymer tablets were prepared from three heterogeneously substituted HPMC batches of the same substituent (2208) and viscosity (100 cps) grade. To elucidate the hypothesis, fractions of both the dissolved polymer and the tablet residue were collected from the dissolution bath and further characterised. The extensive characterisation showed that, although the dissolved bath fraction and the tablet residue had a similar average degree of substitution, the residue was more heterogeneously substituted. It was further revealed that the heterogeneous substituent pattern of the tablet residue facilitated the formation of soluble gel-like components already at room temperature, which increased the viscosity. The viscosity increased by 150% at temperatures correlated to the dissolution bath, and it was thus concluded that the gel-like components grew in size with temperature. Finally, much lower release rates were obtained by tablets composed of the residue compared to tablets composed of the bath fraction, which clarified the hypothesis.

Model drug release from matrix tablets composed of HPMC with different substituent heterogeneity.

The release of a model drug substance, methylparaben, was studied in matrix tablets composed of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) batches of the USP 2208 grade that had different chemical compositions. It was found that chemically heterogeneous HPMC batches with longer sections of low substituted regions and lower hydroxypropoxy content facilitated the formation of reversible gel structures at a temperature as low as 37°C. Most importantly, these structures were shown to affect the release of the drug from matrix tablets, where the drug release decreased with increased heterogeneity and a difference in T80 values of 7h was observed between the compositions. This could be explained by the much lower erosion rate of the heterogeneous HPMC batches, which decreased the drug release rate and also released the drug with a more diffusion based release mechanism compared to the less heterogeneous batches. It can therefore be concluded that the drug release from matrix tablets is very sensitive to variations in the chemical heterogeneity of HPMC.

Investigation of critical polymer properties for polymer release and swelling of HPMC matrix tablets.

Four different HPMC batches were characterized to investigate properties related to critical functionality for their use in hydrophilic matrix tablets. In this study, the HPMC batches were chemically characterized and correlated to the behaviour of pure HPMC tablets. Parameters such as the molecular weight, viscosity, intrinsic viscosity and radius of gyration were kept in a rather limited range, which resulted in a weak correlation to polymer release and degree of swelling. The hydrophilic/hydrophobic character of the HPMC samples was elucidated by the degree of substitution and by the clouding behaviour, where an increased hydrophilicity increased the tablet swelling. This phenomenon was interpreted in a refined model for water transport into HPMC tablets. A five times slower polymer release and a considerably larger degree of swelling were found for one batch of HPMC tablets compared to the others, although the characterized average polymer parameters were in the same range. However, the conformation plot displayed a fraction with compact aggregates. In conclusion, the existence of aggregates in aqueous solution seems to perturb the functionality of HPMC tablets and it seems important to understand and characterize these aggregates to fully predict the polymer release and swelling of HPMC tablets.

The effect of chemical heterogeneity of HPMC on polymer release from matrix tablets.

Polymer release from hydrophilic matrix tablets, composed of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, was studied for seven different polymer batches. A time difference of more than 80h between fully dissolved tablets was noticed although the batches were of the same pharmaceutical substituent (USP 2208) and viscosity (100 cps) grade. To find the functionality related parameters for polymer release from hydrophilic matrix tablets the polymer samples were characterised according to size and chemical composition. The size of the polymers was characterised by size-exclusion chromatography with multi-angle light scattering and refractive index detection. The average amount of substituents was measured with nuclear magnetic resonance and the distribution of the substituents along the cellulose chain was determined with high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection after acid and enzymatic hydrolysis. The results indicated that other types of interactions apart from entanglements were present between the polymer chains, which seemed to affect the polymer release. Most importantly, this study has shown a correlation between the polymer release and the substituent pattern, where the samples with slow release also were more heterogeneously substituted along the polymer chain. From this we can conclude that polymer release is very sensitive to alterations in chemical composition.

Characterization of chemical substitution of hydroxypropyl cellulose using enzymatic degradation.

The distribution of substituents along the polymer backbone will have a strong influence on the properties of modified cellulose. Endoglucanases were used to degrade a series of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) derivatives with a high degree of substitution. The HPCs were characterized with cloud-point analysis prior to degradation. The extent of enzymatic degradation was determined with size-exclusion chromatography with online multi-angle light scattering and refractive index detection and also with high-pH anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection. To further characterize the formed products, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was employed for analysis of short-chained oligosaccharides. The different endoglucanases showed varying degradation capability depending on structure of the active site. The highly substituted HPCs had different susceptibility to degradation by the endoglucanases. The results show a difference in substituent distribution between HPCs, which would explain the differing cloud-point behaviors. Increased number of regions with low substitution could be correlated with lower polymer cloud point. The study shows the usefulness of enzymatic degradation to study the distribution of substituents in soluble biopolymer derivates.

Substituent distribution and clouding behavior of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose analyzed using enzymatic degradation.

The distribution of substituents along the polymer backbone will have a strong influence on the properties of modified cellulose. Endoglucanases were used to degrade three different batches of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) derivatives with similar chemical properties. The phase separation of the HPMCs as a function of temperature, i.e., the clouding behavior, was analyzed prior to degradation. The total amount of unsubstituted glucose was determined using total acid hydrolysis followed by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). The products after enzymatic degradation were analyzed with size-exclusion chromatography with online multiangle light scattering and refractive index detection and also with reducing end determination. To further characterize the formed products, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry was employed for analysis of short-chained oligosaccharides. The different endoglucanases showed varying degradation capability of HPMC derivatives, depending on structure of the active site. The investigated HPMCs had different susceptibility to degradation by the endoglucanases. The results showed a difference in substituent distribution between HPMC batches, which could explain the differing clouding behaviors. The batch with the lowest cloud point was shown to contain a higher number of non-degradable, highly substituted regions.

NMR, cloud-point measurements and enzymatic depolymerization: complementary tools to investigate substituent patterns in modified celluloses.

The substituent patterns of some chemically modified celluloses were characterized as a function of their size distribution, using size-exclusion chromatography coupled to both nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and cloud-point measurements. Intact and enzymatically hydrolyzed methyl cellulose (MC) was fractionated according to size, and the level of substitution of the fractions was measured off-line using NMR. Clouding behavior was also measured as a function of size. Clear differences between hydrolyzed and nonhydrolyzed samples were observed using both techniques. For samples that had been selectively hydrolyzed using cellulose-degrading enzymes, NMR data showed a direct link between the degree of degradation and the level of substitution. Differences in the clouding behavior highlighted changes in substituent levels and substituent patterns across the size distribution. The techniques gave valuable and somewhat complementary information on the substituent distributions of the samples before and after enzymatic hydrolysis.

Improved matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation sample preparation of a partially depolymerised cellulose derivative by continuous spray deposition and interfacing with size-exclusion chromatography.

Continuous spray deposition (CSD) of aqueous solutions of partially depolymerised methyl cellulose was found to improve matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) sample preparation. One feature was that the sensitivity in MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry increased up to an order of magnitude compared with the standard sample preparation method. Another feature was that CSD provided targets for MALDI with homogeneously distributed analyte. This resulted in a more even signal intensity and a higher reproducibility than in the standard method. High-mass discrimination was more pronounced in CSD than in the standard method. Size-exclusion chromatography with aqueous eluent was coupled online to CSD onto matrix-precoated foils. The suitability for determination of the molar mass distribution of methyl cellulose was investigated.