
The
 transamination-chemistry-based process for sitagliptin is a 
through-process, which challenges the crystallization of the active 
pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in a batch stream composed of multiple 
components. Risk-assessment-based design of experiment (DoE) studies of 
particle size distribution (PSD) and crystallization showed that the 
final API PSD strongly depends on the seeding-point temperature, which 
in turn relies on the solution composition. 
To determine the solution 
composition, near-infrared (NIR) methods had been developed with partial
 least squares (PLS) regression on spectra of simulated process samples 
whose compositions were made by spiking each pure component, either 
sitagliptin free base (FB), water, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), dimethyl 
sulfoxide (DMSO), or isopropyl acetate (IPAc), into the process stream 
according to a DoE. An additional update to the PLS models was made by 
incorporating the matrix difference between simulated samples in lab and
 factory batches. 
Overall, at temperatures of 20–35 °C, the NIR models 
provided a standard error of prediction (SEP) of less than 0.23 wt % for
 FB in 10.56–32.91 wt %, 0.22 wt % for DMSO in 3.77–19.18 wt %, 0.32 wt %
 for IPAc in 0.00–5.70 wt %, and 0.23 wt % for water in 11.20–28.58 wt 
%. After passing the performance qualification, these on-line NIR 
methods were successfully established and applied for the on-line 
analysis of production batches for compositions prior to the seeding 
point of sitagliptin crystallization.
 see.........
Application of On-Line NIR for Process Control during the Manufacture of Sitagliptin
Global Science, Technology
and Commercialization, Merck Sharp &
Dohme Corporation P.O. Box 2000, Rahway, New Jersey 07065, United States
Org. Process Res. Dev., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.5b00409
Publication Date (Web): February 12, 2016
Copyright © 2016 American Chemical Society
*E-mail: george_zhou@merck.com.
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