Photostability of crystalline versus amorphous nifedipine and nimodipine.

True solid-state photostability of the drugs nifedipine and nimodipine was investigated during exposure to UV-visible radiation. Photostability was studied on a small scale as thin films of approximately 1 mg drug, which contained either amorphous or re-crystallised stable phases. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed a greater rate and extent of decomposition for the amorphous phases.

Preparation and transformation of true nifedipine polymorphs: investigated with differential scanning calorimetry and X-Ray diffraction pattern fitting methods.

The amorphous → metastable and metastable → stable crystalline phase transitions of nifedipine and their relationship with polymorph composition during storage at controlled temperature/humidity conditions were investigated. Metastable form C was produced from both differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermal treatment and storage [22 °C/0% and 75% relative humidity (RH)] of the amorphous form. Amorphous conversion rate accelerated with storage temperature up to 40 °C, but a further 8 °C increase to 48 °C (3 °C above the glass transition) resulted in a more than 12-fold decrease in amorphous conversion rate.