The use of near-infrared spectroscopy to monitor the mobility of water within the sarafloxacin crystal lattice

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is proposed as a technique to study the mobility of water within the sarafloxacin crystal lattice. An investigation of two samples of sarafloxacin revealed that NIRS can distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable batches for formulation purposes. X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) could not detect any differences between the two samples. NIRS detected differences in the location or orientation of the water molecules within the crystal lattices.