A Study of the Chemical and Physical Stability of Ascorbic Acid, Folic Acid, and Thiamine Hydrochloride Tablets Formulated with Emcompress Standard

Abstract

Tablets which were prepared from separate formulations of Emcompress Standard^R, a commercially available directly compressible granulation, with ascorbic acid, folic acid, and thiamine hydrochloride were subjected to accelerated aging conditions and studied for chemical stability and such physical parameters as hardness, friability, and disintegration time. Other physical factors which could affect the interpretation of the data, such as moisture content, particle size distribution, angle of repose, weight variation, and hardness were also studied using fresh samples.

Accelerated aging showed that the ascorbic acid formulation was chemically unstable; the tablets became soft, the frability increased markedly, and the disintegration time decreased. The folic acid formulation was chemically stable, but the tablets became soft, the friability increased, and disintegration time increased. The thiamine hydrochloride formulation was also chemically stable—the tablets became soft, the disintegration time decreased, and the friability increased.