PARTICLE IDENTIFICATION GROUP is headed by Dale Bares, a chemist with over 30 years experience in particle investigation in the pharmaceutical industry.
Experienced analytical product support can shorten investigation time and lower cost. Dale’s in-depth technical experience in particulate matter and particle identification covers over hundreds of product problems with container/closure extractions, to formulation stability resulting in high particle counts, Dale has developed a great reputation as a problem solver. What are the particles? What’s causing them? What is their source? How can we solve the problem? Is it Mfr’g (extraneous particles from the environment, or from processing, washing equipment, etc.) or is it a stability or formulation problem (drug degradation, container/closure extractables, interactions, ingredients, etc.).
Dale is a welcome addition to our Visual Standards group, which receives rejects in a wide variety of preparations.
Particle Identification Group
Microanalysis also has applications for problem solving in many other industries. This includes general contamination, powders, fibers (natural and synthetic, hair, paper, wood), polymer and materials identification, multi-laminate films, coatings, metals, minerals, corrosion analysis, consumer complaints, competitor monitoring, etc.
To support these problems, analytical techniques and instruments are utilized using microscopes and microscope-based instrumentation. These include:
Particle Isolation
Filtration or manual isolation in a HEPA filtered area onto an appropriate filter/media for subsequent analysis, including special coated/treated membranes.
Light Microscopy
Stereomicroscopy (general observation and sample preparation).
Polarized Light Microscopy (fibers, crystallinity, birefringence).
FT-IR/ Microspectrosopy
Using transmission, reflectance, and ATR techniques, infrared analysis can be applied to macro-sized samples as well as to individual particles as small as 20um. Most valuable for organic compounds. Gives information about the covalent bonds and functional groups present in compounds, allowing class or specific identification.
SEM/EDS
Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. SEM provides imaging and EDS provides elemental information about the sample. Best for metals, minerals, metal salts of organic compounds, and metal-containing organic compounds.
Photomicrography
Imaging and documentation.
