Direct preparation of spherically agglomerated salicylic acid crystals during crystallization.

Needle-like salicylic acid crystals were transformed into a spherically shaped dense form during crystallization by the spherical crystallization technique. Agitation of a mixture of ethanol-water-chloroform containing salicylic acid yielded spherically agglomerated salicylic acid crystals. The crystallinity of the agglomerated salicylic acid the amount of ethanol in the solvent mixture was decreased. The wettability of the agglomerated crystals increased when the amount of ethanol in the solvent mixture was decreased, and this enhanced the dissolution rate of the crystals. The remarkable improvements in the flow and packing of the agglomerated crystals enabled the direct compression of the crystals.