hyperspectral imaging combined with multivariate curve resolution for quantitation and homogeneity exploration of active pharmaceutical ingredient in pharmaceutical products

In the past decade, the global pharmaceutical market has experienced significant growth, whichunfortunately has led to an increase in the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines. thesecounterfeit medications may contain insufficient or incorrect amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredients (apis) [1]. to address this issue, pharmaceutical products now undergo various analytical tests to ensure their quality. consequently, efforts are being made to develop faster and more intelligent methods [2]. one promising and increasingly utilized technique in pharmaceutical research and industry is visible-nearinfrared hyperspectral imaging (vis-nir-hsi). this method allows for the acquisition of both spatial and spectral information from an object [3]. moreover, the multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (mcr-als) algorithm can be employed to provide distribution maps and pure spectra of all chemical compounds present in complex mixtures [4]. in this study, two sets of samples were prepared: one containing 32.26 to 80.65 %w/w of metformin hydrochloride and the other containing 20 to 80 %w/w of nitroglycerin with 10% lactose as the api. the data from these mixtures were captured using a vis-nir hsi device (400–1000 nm). different unsupervised and supervised multivariate chemometric techniques, including principal component analysis (pca), mcr-als, and partial least squares regression (pls-r) were used to analyze the hsi images. the direct application of pls-r on the images did not give satisfactory results for both metformin and nitroglycerin. however, the primary use of mcr-als to exploit pure component profiles gave surprising results for metformin (r2=0.9951) and nitroglycerin (r2=0.9976). on the other side, the mixing process plays a crucial role in the overall quality of pharmaceuticals, as it can significantly impact the homogeneity of the substances in their dosage form, affecting characteristics such as dissolution and stability. by creating distribution maps of each component by mcr-als, we were able to assess the homogeneity of each composition. in conclusion, this technique shows promise in determining the api content and checking its homogeneity in pharmaceutical products. its potential application in the industry could help ensure the overall quality and efficacy of medicines in the market.