Continuous production of aqueous suspensions of ultra-fine particles of curcumin using ultrasonically driven mixing device.

Developing drug formulations for poorly water-soluble drugs is a major challenge for pharmaceutical industries as the poor water solubility limits bioavailability of these drugs. Production of nanoparticles/microparticles of these drugs is one of the ways to improve dissolution rates by increasing interfacial area for dissolution. Curcumin, a compound obtained from the rhizome of curcuma longa (turmeric roots), is a pharmaceutically viable molecule. However, poor aqueous solubility limits its therapeutic use. In this work, we report studies conducted to continuously produce aqueous suspensions of curcumin nano/micro particles. Influence of process parameters such as ultrasound, additives, and solvent to antisolvent ratio on polymorphic outcome and morphology of precipitated particles has been investigated. Ultrasound was found to greatly influence the polymorphic form and the morphology of precipitated particles. Nucleation rates, mixing time, and solid-liquid interfacial energies were also estimated to understand the effect of various processing parameters on the precipitation process.