Investigation of the Effect of Operational Variables in the Production of Indomethacin Nanoparticles by Confined Impinging Jets

The great challenge of many drug candidates in the pharmaceuticals industry is their low bioavailability due to the poor solubility and low dissolution rate in the different solvent, especially in water. Reduce drug particle size to nano size including a method that is effective in obviation this problem. In this study, the antisolvent precipitation technique with confined two- impinging jets is developed to prepare nanoparticles of Indomethacin to overcome its poor solubility in water.The influence of the operating parameters, such as stirring speed, quenching ratio, drug solution concentration and overallvolumetric flow rate, were also experimentally investigated. The results of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)photomicrographs was revealed that by increasing of stirring speed from without stirrer to 400 and 1200 rpm, the particle size decreased from 215 to 88 nm. In the investigation of the effect of changes of quenching ratio from 1:1.5 to 1:5 and 1:12, it was seen the particle size decreased from 129 to 86 and 80 nm. Increasing of concentration parameter from 10 to 50 mg/mL showed the decrease in particle size from 98 to 77 nm with aggregation. The investigation results of overall volumetric flow rate was showed that as it was increased from 300 to 600 ml/min, the particle size was decreased from 95 to 86 nm. Furthermore, the results of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis confirmed that the pure metastable srystal of a-form was effectively prepared by the two-impinging jets method and this can dramatically increase its solubility.