Manufacture Of Pharmaceutically Relevant Materials By Mechanochemistry Using Twin Screw Extrusion

Mechanochemistry broadly refers to the class of chemical reactions that are induced by the application of mechanical force. In the context of pharmaceutical materials, mechanochemistry has been described in the literature for the preparation of cocrystals, salts, and amorphous complexes. In almost all these examples, laboratory-scale mills have been used to demonstrate the production of the aforementioned materials. While laboratory-scale mills demonstrate the utility of the mechanochemical concept, they typically produce small quantities of material and are not considered scalable processes. In this chapter, the application of twin-screw extrusion (TSE) in the production of cocrystals, salts, and amorphous complexes is described. Unlike other mechanical mixing procedures, TSE is a continuous process and lends itself to scalability. TSE can be considered an efficient, scalable, and environmentally friendly process for the consistent manufacture of pharmaceutically relevant systems.