Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry for the surface characterization of solid-state pharmaceuticals.

Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is a highly surface sensitive analytical method for surface chemical identification and surface chemical distribution analysis (mapping). Here we have explored the application of ToF-SIMS for the characterization of solid-state pharmaceuticals and highlight specific case studies concerning the distribution and stability of pharmaceutical actives within solid matrices (pellets and polymeric carriers) and the face-specific properties of pharmaceutical crystals.