Preparation techniques for racemic and optically pure ibuprofen, evaluation of resulting active substance qualities

Racemic ibuprofen and S(+)-ibuprofen show unfavourable galenic properties ( bad flow behaviour, no direct tabletting). As a rule, substances available on the market have an identical crystal morphology, which among other metho ds, can be precisely determined by scanning electron microscopy. Investigat ions of a representative sample of conventional RS- or S(+)-ibuprofen have shown that in spite of the occurrence of some acceptable parameters no subs tance can be evaluated positively from a pharmaceutic-technological point o f view. Special recrystallisations and reduction procedures bring no satisf actory qualities either. Only granulation techniques can transform ibuprofe n into a,galenically favourable form, especially fluid bed granulation.