Supercritical fluid technology in pharmaceutical research

Super Disintegrants Characterization and Function / 3553 Supercritical Fluid Technology in Pharmaceutical Research / 3568... 

Dondeti P, Desai Y. Supercritical fluid technology in pharmaceutical research. In Swarbrick J, Boylan JC, eds. Encyclopedia of Pharmaceutical Technology. Vol. 18. New York Marcel Dekker, 219-248. 

A new approach in the 1990s was to use supercritical fluid technology to produce uniform particles to replace crystallization. Even though super critical fluids were discovered over 100 years ago, and the commercial plant was built over 20 years ago in the United States, it is only now that the technology is used for a number of pharmaceutical applications (2-5), so as to produce aspirin, caffeine, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc. One of the major areas on which the research and development of supercritical fluids is focused is particle design. There are different concepts such as rapid expansion of supercritical solution, gas antisolvent recrystallization, and supercritical antisolvent to generate particles, microspheres, microcapsules, liposomes, or other dispersed materials. 

Thus, there is a need to identify alternative approaches to produce small particles for pharmaceutical use. Use of supercritical fluids (SFs) or compressed gases in general is an attractive alternative. Though historically the first report dates back more than a hundred years (1), it was in the 1980s that intensive research started in this field, giving renewed interest to supercritical technologies. 

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