Thermal Behaviour of Candesartan Active substance and in pharmaceutical compounds

Thermal analysis is one of the most frequently used instrumental techniques in the pharmaceutical research, for the thermal characterization of different materials from solids to semi-solids, which are of pharmaceutical relevance. In this paper, simultaneous thermogravimetry/derivative thermogravimetry (TG/DTG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used for characterization of the thermal behaviour of candesartan cilexetil active substance (C-AS) under dynamic nitrogen atmosphere and nonisothermal conditions, in comparison with pharmaceutical product containing the corresponding active substance. It was observed that the commercial samples showed a different thermal profile than the standard sample, caused by the presence of excipients in the pharmaceutical product and to possible interaction of these with the active substance. The Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) were used as complementary techniques adequately implement and assist in interpretation of the thermal results. The main conclusion of this comparative study was that the TG/DTG and DSC curves, together with the FT-IR spectra, respectively X-ray difractograms constitute believe data for the discrimination between the pure substance and pharmaceutical forms.