Forced degradation studies are used to identify reactions which may occur to degrade a processed product. Usually conducted before final formulation, forced degradation uses external stresses to rapidly screen material stabilities.
Flow chemistry has been proven to allow very carefully constrained temperature regimes. As shown on the right, materials are very rapidly heated to the desired temperature and cooled to ambient afterwards. This, coupled with accurate flow rate control allows carefully defined temperature exposures to be managed.
The ability of the AFRICA system to test a number of different materials (by using the reagent addition system), together with online analytics (using the HPLC system) means that rapid screening of temperature exposure based degradation studies are easily performed.
Addition of secondary materials (such as acids and bases) to the flow stream allows additional stresses to be included in the study. The solid phase columns give rise to the additional possibility of investigation of packing material effects on the substrate.
