Systems, devices, and methods for ultrasonic agitation mediated kinetic release testing of compounds

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12480926-B2
Application number	US-201916982501-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2019
Priority date	Mar 19, 2018
Publication date	Nov 25, 2025
Grant date	Nov 25, 2025

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods for kinetic release testing of compounds are discussed herein. Ultrasonic agitation, with resultant cavitation and acoustic streaming, is used to breakdown and release drugs from one or more compounds to form a solution. The system uses small volumes of solvent to increase accessibility and portability of the system. Once dissolved, the solution is passed to a sampling system for calculating kinetic release behavior. The kinetic release behavior can be compared to existing reference data to identify the compound and/or confirm accurate manufacture by comparison of dissolution characteristics of the active ingredients. In some embodiments, streak photography and hydrophone measurements are used to study the effects of system parameters on the acousto-hydrodynamic environment.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method for testing characteristics of a compound in the form of a tablet, the method comprising:
sampling a solvent prior to combining the tablet with the solution to establish a baseline measurement of the solvent; combining the tablet with the solvent to form a combination; activating a sonicator, the sonicator configured to produce both cavitation and acoustic streaming in the combination to agitate the combination to transform the combination into a solution; sampling the solution at a plurality of time intervals to produce a plurality of samples; determining kinetic release behavior of the compound in solution as a function of data related to the samples; comparing the data of the kinetic release behavior of the compound in solution with a reference data set of kinetic release behavior of the compound to form a result, the result comprising one of identifying the compound, and a determination of whether the compound contains an amount of an ingredient that is within an acceptable range; and producing an output based on the result.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sonicator is configured to produce both cavitation and acoustic streaming in the combination to dissolve the tablet into the solvent to transform the combination into the solution.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising coupling the sonicator to a horn for agitating the sample to transform the combination into the solution.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising adjusting one or more of an amplitude setting of the sonicator, frequency of applied ultrasonic signal, diameter of the horn, and geometry of the horn to change a rate of transformation of the combination into the solution.

5 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising adjusting a probe height of the horn to change a rate of transformation of the combination into the solution.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an acoustic dosing of the sonicator to change an amount of acoustic energy delivered to the combination per unit time.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein sonicator is further configured to produce micro-streaming in addition to both cavitation and acoustic streaming.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the output identifies the compound.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the solution is in a vessel, and wherein sampling the solution comprises extracting the solution from the vessel, and wherein the method further comprises, subsequent to the sampling the solution, returning the solution to the vessel.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the combination is disposed in a vessel, and the sonicator is disposed external to the vessel when transforming the sample into the solution.

11 . A method for quantifying target release of a compound, the method comprising:
sampling a solvent prior to combining the tablet with the solution to establish a baseline measurement of the solvent; combining the compound with the solvent to form a combination; agitating the combination to dissolve the compound within the solvent using ultrasonic agitation to produce both cavitation and acoustic streaming in the combination to transform the combination into a solution, the compound releasing one or more ingredients during dissolution; collecting a plurality of samples of the dissolved compound at a corresponding plurality of time intervals; detecting an amount of the one or more ingredients in the samples to determine a value; comparing the value to a reference value; and generating an output that describes a relationship between the value and the reference value.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the collecting occurs during agitation of the combination.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising adjusting one or more of an amplitude setting of the ultrasonic agitation, acoustic dosing of the sonicator, probe height of a horn, frequency of applied ultrasonic signal, diameter of a horn, and geometry of a horn to change a rate of transformation of the combination into the solution.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising adjusting a height from which the agitation is emitted to change a rate of transformation of the combination into the solution.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the output comprises an identity of the compound.

Assignees

• Univ Boston

Inventors

• Zaman Muhammad
• Acevedo Andrew J
• Holt Ray Glynn
• Desai Darash

Classifications

• C04B40/0021

  Sonic or ultrasonic waves, e.g. to initiate sonochemical reactions · CPC title

• G01N29/34

  Generating the ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves {, e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor} · CPC title

• B01F31/85

  with a vibrating element inside the receptacle · CPC title

• G01N33/15 Primary

  Medicinal preparations {; Physical properties thereof, e.g. dissolubility} · CPC title