Quantitative solid-state analysis of three solid forms of ranitidine hydrochloride in ternary mixtures using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction

The aim of the study was to develop a reliable quantification procedure for mixtures of three solid forms of ranitidine hydrochloride using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and Raman spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis. The effect of mixing methods of the calibration samples on the calibration model quality was also investigated. Thirteen ternary samples of form 1, form 2 and the amorphous form of ranitidine hydrochloride were prepared in triplicate to build a calibration model. The ternary samples were prepared by three mixing methods (a) manual mixing (MM) and ball mill mixing (BM) using two (b) 5 mm (BM5) or (c) 12 mm (BM12) balls for 1 min. The samples were analyzed with XRPD and Raman spectroscopy. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to study the effect of mixing method, while partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to build the quantification models. PCA score plots showed that, in general, BM12 resulted in the narrowest sample clustering indicating better sample homogeneity. In the quantification models, the number of PLS factors was determined using cross-validation and the models were validated using independent test samples with known concentrations. Multiplicative scattering correction (MSC) without scaling gave the best PLS regression model for XPRD, and standard normal variate (SNV) transformation with centering gave the best model for Raman spectroscopy. Using PLS regression, the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) values of the best models were 5.0–6.9% for XRPD and 2.5–4.5% for Raman spectroscopy. XRPD and Raman spectroscopy in combination with PLS regression can be used to quantify the amount of single components in ternary mixtures of ranitidine hydrochloride solid forms. Raman spectroscopy gave better PLS regression models than XRPD, allowing a more accurate quantification.