Optimization of acoustic-resonance spectrometry for analysis of intact tablets and prediction of dissolution rate

Acoustic-resonance spectrometry (ARS) provides a means of identifying and quantifying materials. A new ARS instrument incorporates a three-transducer design that increases sensitivity through interferometry and uses polyvinylidene fluoride piezoelectric films instead of ceramic transducers to give high output voltages, broader bandwidth, and lower cost. The operating parameters of the ARS are optimized with a widely applicable technique named Universal Numerical Optimization (UNO). The UNO technique allows refinement of instrumental parameters on the basis of distances in hyperspace between sample sets. The new ARS is able to identify different intact tablets and predict the percent dissolution of intact carbamazepine tablets at one hour in a standard apparatus to within 4.6% at a fraction of the cost of traditional or even near-IR methods.