Powders used to describe the physical form of a material that is dry substance

composed of finely divided particles or used to describe a pharmaceutical dosage form

that is medicated powder intended for internal or external use

Comminution is the physical reduction of a substance to fine particle size. Comminution

makes the substance or drug easier to dissolve and compound. Comminution is
necessary when compounding powders or granules to ensure the uniformity of the
particle size so that the final dosage form will be homogeneous and will evenly distribute
the required dose

Types of Comminution
Trituration, grinding of a drug in a mortar and pestle to reduce the particle size.
Trituration involves the mortar and pestle plus the substance being comminuted
Levigation is commonly used in small scale preparation of ointments and suspensions
to reduce the particle size and grittiness of added powders. Grittiness is the
characteristic abrasiveness of non-particles or granules. Levigation reduces the particle
size by triturating it in a mortar or spatulating it on an ointment slab or pad with a small
amount of liquid in which the solid is not soluble. The liquid in which the solid is not
soluble is called levigating agent (solid being comminuted is not soluble). The levigating
agent should be viscous. Commonly used levigating agent include mineral oil and
propylene glycol. Levigation involves trituration that is using mortar and pestle plus the
addition of levigating agent or an ointment slab and spatula plus the levigating agent.
Pulverization by intervention uses technique in which it adds volatile solvent such as
ethanol and methanol, and those volatile solvent will be added to the crystals that
dissolve them. Since we added to the comminuted particle size are volatile, it will be
quickly removed from the preparation leaving a fine powder as the residue, since
volatile it is easy to evaporate and the left behind after pulverization by intervention are
fine particles

When two or more powdered substances are to be combined to form a uniform mixture,
it is best to reduce the particle size individually before blending. Before blending we
should triturate or comminute our particles or powders separately before we mix them.

Spatulation is the process of blending small amounts of powder to form a uniform

mixture by the use of a spatula through a sheet of paper or ointment tile. Spatulation is
useful for small scale preparations and is not suitable for larger quantities since it would
require so much effort to blend powders using this method. Spatulation is not
recommended when the powders that we are going to mix or blend contains potent
substances because of the obvious reason in which it may result to not homogeneous
final product, so we may end up with a potent powder that is more concentrated in one
area than in another and it may result to an uneven dosing if we are going to use to
blend that have potent substance is spatulation method.

Trituration method is the same method in the type of comminution. Trituration is both
used in comminute of powders and also in blending the powders. Trituration is done
with the use of mortar and pestle
Sifting method uses standard sieves in which the powders are shaken up in. Sifting
method results in light, fluffy products. Sieves can be shaken manually or we can use
mechanical shakers. The principle in sieves is it divides the powders that we are going
to put into size fractions, so this process separates fine particles from coarser particles
bypassing the material through a number of sieves of different mesh sizes. Inside the
sieve, they have different sizes of mesh from biggest to smallest. The coarser particles
that is putted in the top and then when shaken, the coarser particles will left behind at
the top and the finer particles will go at the bottom, depending on their size, the particles
will be left per layer of sieve.
Tumbling involves mixing of powders in a rotating chamber, it uses equipment to blend
the powders together.

Other things to consider when it comes to powders, we have two other things to
consider which are the potency and eutexia
Potency, when mixing very potent drugs such as furosemide or digoxin, it is best to use
geometric dilution to evenly distribute the active drug. Powders that we are going to mix
or blend contains potent powders, it is best to avoid using the spatulation method since
we may end up with uneven dosing of the product. If there is potent powder that we are
going to blend, the best process to use is geometric dilution.
Geometric dilution, 5mg of digoxin based on the definition of dilution, you should add an
equal amount of the diluent which is the starch. In 5mg of digoxin, it added 5mg of
starch. When triturated, the product is 10mg powder. The amount of powder should also
the same with the amount of starch that we are going to add, doubling up the amount of
powders in your mortar. We can also add diluent in approximation, for example in a
given amount of potent powder, approximate is used on how much inside the mortar.
The dilution is continued up to final dilution (9 th dilution). Keep adding diluent to reach
the weight required, to make 2 grams of powder. It took 9 th dilution to become 2 grams
of powder.
Eutexia, the melting point of sodium is about 98 degrees Celsius, while potassium melts
at 63.5 degrees Celsius, but when they are combined in a specific ration or the
formation of their alloy, results to a melting point lower than their melting points if they
are separated. This sodium potassium alloy melts at -11 degrees Celsius which is
significantly lower than their individual melting points. To avoid eutaxia, we may add
sufficient amount of diluent or reformulate the recipe all together

Types of Powders
Medicated powders, other dry powders are used as active ingredients for injections or
vaginal douches. Medicated powders for external use are dusted on the affected area
from a sifter type container or powder aerosol

Powders based on availability

Bulk powders, powders available in pre-package amounts so these are primarily stored
in bulk in a pharmacy ready for dispensing to patients. The downside with bulk powders
is that they are limited to non-potent substances because they are dispensed in bulk
they should be safe for the patient to measure on their own. These powders are
intended to be suspended or dissolved in water or juices or soft food prior to
administration