Thermal compatibility studies of nitroimidazoles and excipients

Nitroimidazoles are heterocycle imidazoles with a nitrogen group incorporated in its structure. The objective of this study was to develop a model to characterize possible interactions between active substances and excipients using: Thermogravimetry, Differential Thermal Analysis, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, and DSC coupled to photovisual system. It was used three nitroimidazoles (metronidazole, secnidazole, and tinidazole) and two types of microcrystalline cellulose with different particle size (Microcel and Avicel). The binary mixtures were prepared in proportion (w/w) 1:1 (nitroimidazole:excipient). Thermogravimetric data demonstrated that the tinidazole was the nitroimidazole with better uniformity. The nitroimidazoles obeyed the zero order kinetic reaction, evidencing its vaporization processes. Differential thermal analysis data showed nitroimidazoles compatibility with the different microcrystalline celluloses studied, showing that microcrystalline celluloses stabilized the active substances. Calorimetric data of secnidazole showed two melting points, characteristic of the polymorphs presented in raw material. The vaporization constants values of nitroimidazoles studied were secnidazole > metronidazole > tinidazole and for the binary mixtures these values followed the order tinidazole > metronidazole ≥ secnidazole.