Preparation and characterization of amorphous cefuroxime axetil drug nanoparticles with novel technology: high-gravity antisolvent precipitation

Amorphous nanoparticles of cefuroxime axetil (CFA), a kind of poorly water-soluble antibiotic drug, were prepared at massive production rate by a novel continuous process, the high-gravity antisolvent precipitation (HGAP). The produced CFA nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area analysis (BET), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and a dissolution test. The mean particle size of CFA was about 300 nm with a narrow distribution from 100 to 400 nm. The specific surface area reached up to 8.67 m(2)/g, which was about 4 times higher than that of the commercial spray-dried CFA. And the results of the dissolution test showed that dissolution rate of the former were higher than that of the latter. Hence it is proved the HGAP technique offers a direct and continuous process for mass-production of drug nanoparticles.