Nondestructive determination of the ambroxol content in tablets by Raman spectroscopy

We describe a method for determining the ambroxol content in tablets nondestructively. To obtain a reliable quantitative calibration, we prepared 20 pellet samples (ambroxol content: 8.30-16.25 wt.%) and acquired their Raman spectra while rotating the pellets. The spectra of the rotated samples reflected the compositional variations better than those that were recorded without rotation. To reduce both the baseline variations and the spectral noise simultaneously, the spectra were pre-processed using wavelet transformation (WT). Then, we used the normalization method before partial least-squares (PLS) regression to correct Raman intensity variation from laser power fluctuation. The achieved standard error of cross validation (SECV) was 0.30%. Two different datasets where Raman intensity was artificially changed were prepared and the corresponding spectra were quantitatively analyzed. The result was reproducible even if laser intensity was fairly changed. Additionally, two different commercial tablets were analyzed and the accuracy of measurement was better for a tablet that had the similar spectral features of the standard pellet samples. The proposed method can be utilized for the analysis of commercial tablets if standard tablets of various ambroxol concentrations that have the same chemical components including additives and the same physical shape of tablets are available.