Hydration induced material transfer in membranes of osmotic pump tablets measured by synchrotron radiation based FTIR

Osmotic pump tablets are reliable oral controlled drug delivery systems based on their semipermeable membrane coating. This research used synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) microspectroscopy and imaging to investigate the hydration induced material transfer in the membranes of osmotic pump tablets. SR-FTIR was applied to record and map the chemical information of a micro-region of the membranes, composed of cellulose acetate (CA, as the water insoluble matrix) and polyethylene glycol (PEG, as the soluble pore forming agent and plasticizing agent). The microstructure and chemical change of membranes hydrated for 0, 5, 10 and 30 min were measured using SR-FTIR, combined with scanning electronic microscopy and atom force microscopy. The SR-FTIR microspectroscopy results indicated that there was a major change at the absorption range of 2700–3100 cm− 1 in the membranes after different periods of hydration time. The absorption bands at 2870–2880 cm− 1 and 2950–2960 cm− 1 were assigned to represent CA and PEG, respectively. The chemical group signal distribution illustrated by the ratio of PEG to CA demonstrated that the trigger of drug release in the preliminary stage was due to the rapid transfer of PEG into liquid medium with a sharp decrease of PEG in the membranes. The SR-FTIR mapping results have demonstrated the hydration induced material transfer in the membranes of osmotic pump tablets and enabled reassessment of the drug release mechanism of membrane controlled osmotic pump systems.

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