Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: Effective Tool for Screening of Polymorphs in Pharmaceuticals

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has emerged as an important technique for the screening and characterization of polymorphs in pharmaceuticals. Polymorphism, the ability of a substance to exist in two or more crystalline phases having different physicochemical and biopharmaceutical parameters, has attracted pharmaceutical scientists due to the patentability of new forms. Transformation of the solid phase due to polymorphic changes during manufacturing and storage may lead to formulation hurdles. Vibrational spectroscopy, particularly NIR spectroscopy, is a widely used technique for polymorphs screening in drug development processes and has emerged as a process analytical technology tool. In this review, a brief overview of NIR spectroscopy, chemometric tools, and polymorphs screening of pharmaceuticals using NIR spectroscopy is presented. Recent developments in NIR spectroscopy instrumentation are also discussed.