The influence of salt formation on electrostatic and compression properties of flurbiprofen salts

Salt formation is an effective method of improving physicochemical properties of acidic and basic drugs. The selection of a salt form most suitable for drug development requires a well-designed screening strategy to ensure various issues are addressed in the early development stages. Triboelectrification of pharmaceutical powders may cause problems during processing such as segregation of components due to the effects of particle adhesion. However, very little work has been done on the effect of salt formation on triboelectrification properties. In this paper, salts of flurbiprofen were prepared by combining the drug with a selection of closely related amine counter ions. The aim of the work was to investigate the impact of the counter ion on electrostatic charge of the resultant salts to inform the salt selection process. The experimental results show the magnitude of charge and polarity of the flurbiprofen salts to be highly dependent on the type of counter ion selected for the salt formation. Furthermore, particle adhesion to the stainless steel surface of the shaking container and the salts’ compression properties were measured. The formed salts had lower electrostatic charges, improved tabletability, and resulted in reduced adhesion of these powders compared with the parent drug.