GLOSSARY
Aerosols: Pressurized dosage forms containing one or more therapeutically active ingredients which are released upon actuation of an appropriate valve system. They are intended for topical application to the skin, local application into various body orifices, and inhalation into the lungs. [top]
Buccal Tablets: These are small tablets intended to be inserted in the buccal pouch and the active ingredients are absorbed through the oral mucosa.[top]
Bulk Powders: May be either for internal or external use. A DUSTING powder is what the name implies. Those for internal use would not be dispensed in a shaker-top container, and the dose would be measured with a spoon or some other suit-able implement. [top]
Cachets: Concave, lenticular disks composed of rice flour and water and made to seal at the flanged edges. Cachet is a French term. In the U. S. they are called Konseals.[top]
Calcination: the process of separating volatile substances, such as carbon dioxide, from fixed inorganic matter by the applica-tion of strong heat, without producing fusion.[top]
Capsules: "Shells of Gelatin" composed of two parts: (1) the long end, which is the container and (2) the short end, which is the cap or lid and fits snugly over the open part of the long end.[top]
Cataplasms: Also known as poultices and are described as soft, moist masses of solid material which are usually medicated and intended to be applied externally.[top]
Clarification: this is the process of separating solid substances from liquids without the use of strainers or filters. This is seldom used in pharmacy; it is sometimes called SEDIMENTATION.[top]
Collodians: Solutions of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol. (Pyroxylin is soluble gun-cotton and is prepared by action of nitric and sulfuric acid on cotton.)[top]
Colation: (straining) is the process of separating a solid from a liquid mixture upon a cloth strainer stretched on a frame. This could be done by placing a piece of gauze over a funnel. For some solids that need to be separated from liquids, the material would need to be closer woven than gauze.[top]
Comminution: The process of reducing a substance to fine particles. Some of these processes are accomplished by the following methods: Cutting, slicing, bruising, rasping, grating, chopping, rolling, stamping, grinding, trituration, levigation, elutriation, pulverizing, etc. The object of all of these processes is to facilitate the solution of a substance or of its active principle or to permit its administration in the form of a fine powder. TRITURATION is the one most employed in pharmacy.[top]
Creams: Semisolid emulsions of either the oil-in-water or the water-in-oil type. They are ordinarily used topically.[top]
Crystallization: the process by which substances are caused to assume certain definite geometric forms having surfaces called faces, edges, and angles.[top]
Decantation: the process of separating a liquid from a solid by pouring off the liquid after the solid has settled.[top]
Decoction: the same as infusion, except the drug and the water is boiled. (Hot Coffee).[top]
Deflagration: the process of strongly heating one inorganic sub-stance with the access of air until they are charred.[top]
Dispensing Tablets: A soluble tablet containing a measured amount of potent drug and usually used for compounding. (Exception - they are not always made up of potent drugs). They are also used to make certain diluted antiseptic washes. These tablets are often unusual color and shape in order to distinguish them from other tablets triturate.[top]
Disperse Systems: Materials may be mixed together to form a true solution, a coloidal dispersion, or a coarse dispersion.
- A true solution - mixture of two more more components that form a homogenous molecular dispersion, i.e. a one-phase system, the composition of which can vary over a wide range.
- A colloidal dispersion - represents a system havin a particle size intermediate between that of a true solution and a coarse dispersion, roughly 10Å to 5000Å(0.1mm = 1000Å)
- A coarse dispersion the diameter of the particles in emulsions and suspensions for the most part being larger than 0.1mm (1000Å).
Distillation: to obtain a volatile liquid.[top]
Divided Powders: These are unit dose forms and are usually re-referred to as FOLDED POWDERS OR CHARTS. The quantity of powder is not as great as that of a bulk powder, and it is divided into the prescribed number of doses and folded into a suitable paper, then dispensed in a proper box. (See page 8 for illustrations). They usually serve the same purpose as capsules, but are administered in a different manner.[top]
Effervescent Tablets: These contain a mixture of citric acid or tartaric acid and sodium bicarbonate prepared in such a way as to release carbon dioxide when dissolved in water.[top]
Elixirs: Sweetened, aromatic, hydroalcoholic, clear liquid preparations intended to be used as medicinal or flavoring agents. They are usually made by the process of simple solution.[top]
Elutriation: the process of separating coarser from finer particles of insoluble substances by suspension in water. It is sometimes called water-sifting The powders are mixed with the water, and the heavier ones settle to the bottom first while the lighter ones remain suspended; this liquid with the light powder is de-canted into another vessel and the fine particles are allowed to settle.[top]
Emulsions: A system of two immiscible substances, usually liquids,one held in fine dispersion within the other by means of an emulsifying agent. The components of an emulsion are usually oil, water, and an emulsifying agent sometimes called the gum. Emulsions consist of two phases: (1) External phase and (2) Internal Phase. The external phase is that part in which the internal part is dispersed. The internal phase is that part which is dispersed. There are two classes: (1) Oil-in-water - in which the oil is dispersed in the water; (2) Water-in-oil - in which the water is dispersed in the oil. Theories of emulsification should be clarified in the Physical Pharmacy class. (Milk is a natural emulsion.) Emulsions should have a "Shake Well'' label since they tend to cream or separate to some extent (as cream on top of whole un-homogenized milk).[top]
Expression: The forcible separation of liquids from solids, after maceration. There are several methods involved, and are too detailed to discuss here.[top]
Extraction: the process of separating soluble principles from drugs by treating them with a liquid in which the principles are soluble.[top]
Evaporation: to separate a volatile liquid from a less volatile liquid. Granulation, desiccation, exsication - all three used to separate a volatile liquid from a solid.[top]
Extracts: Concentrated preparations of animal or vegetable origin which are in a semiliquid, semisolid, or solid form. The semi-liquid or semisolid products are referred to as pilular extracts, which means that they are capable of being shaped into pills; the solid extracts are usually in the form of fine powders, granular powders, or lumps. Extracts are of such strength that one Gm. contains the active ingredients of 4 Gm. of the crude drug. They are prepared by maceration and/or percolation similar to fluidextracts, but the solvent is evaporated away leaving the concentrated residue.[top]
Filtration: The process of separating liquids from solids for the purpose of obtaining the liquid in a transparent condition and/or obtaining the insoluble matter.[top]
Fluidextracts: Concentrated alcoholic or hydroalcoholic solutions of the valuable or active constituents of vegetable drugs. The concentration is adjusted so that one m1. of the fluidextract will contain the active constituents of 1 Gm. of the crude drug. They are prepared by maceration and/or percolation. (The fluidextract is 10 times stronger than the tincture.[top]
Fusion: the process of liquefying solid substances by application of heat without the use of a solvent. This process is used in the manufacture of some ointments and suppositories.[top]
Gargles: Preparations used in the treatment of congested conditions of the nose and throat. Mouth-washes would be considered in this category.[top]
Gels: Colloidal substances in a coagulated condition. (Example -Aluminum Hydroxide Gel or "Amphojel").[top]
Glycerites: Stable solutions or mixtures of medicinal and pharmaceutical substances in glycerin. They are viscous, hygroscopic and heavy and readily miscible with water.[top]
Granular Effervescent Salts: Mixtures of medicinal substances with an effervescent base composed of sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, and tartaric acid and made into a granular form.[top]
Hypodermic Tablets: Tablet Triturates which are usually smaller than ordinary T. T.s and are readily water-soluble; they are used for preparing hypodenmic injections and therefore must be sterile.[top]
Ignition: strongly heating inorganic substances, with access of air, to obtain a definite residue.[top]
Incineration: the process of strongly heating, or burning, organic substances in a crucible until nothing but ashes remain.[top]
Infusion: the process of extracting the water soluble principles from vegetable drugs by pouring hot water on the drug or by treating the drug with cold water for a definite length of time. (Cold water is used when the desired principle is injured by heat.) HOT TEA is an example of infusion with hot water.[top]
Inhalants: Alcoholic or oily-like preparations containing volatile constituents which are readily vaporized in hot water and the vapors inhaled through the nose or mouth. They are more recently used with electric HOT or COLD vaporizers.[top]
Injections and Ampoule: Solutions or suspensions which are intended, with a few exceptions for parenteral (hypodermic) administration. AMPULE - the container which holds the injection; made of glass or plastic.[top]
Jelly: Another term for Gel. It appears that Gels are used internally while jellies are for external use.[top]
Juices: The expressed or strained liquid from certain fruits. They are used to flavor other preparations and have little, if any, medicinal value.[top]
Levigation: the process of reducing substances to a state of minute division by triturating them, after they have been made into a paste with water or other liquid. This can be done in a mortar, or on a pill tile with a spatula.[top]
Liniments: Liquid or semisolid preparations of an alcoholic, saponaceous, or oily nature, intended for external use and to be applied with rubbing. They should have an "External Use" label.[top]
Lotion: Probably an almost obsolete term which means to wash. It is the process of separating soluble matter from a solid by pouring a liquid on the solid; the liquid dissolves and washes out the soluble portion.[top]
Lotions: Aqueous preparations containing insoluble substances which are held more or less in suspension and intended to be applied externally without rubbing. They should have a "Shake Well" and an "External Use" label.[top]
Maceration: This is the soaking of the drug in an appropriate menstruum at room temperature until the soluble portion of the drug is dissolved.[top]
Magmas: Suspensions of finely divided, insoluble, inorganic substances in water. They should have a "Shake Well" label.[top]
Marc: The undissolved residue of the drug that remains in the percolator.[top]
Masses: Mixtures of powdered medicinal substances made into plastic masses with suitable excipients.[top]
Menstruum: the solvent used in the process of percolation.[top]
Mixtures: Liquid preparations which may contain finely divided solid substances in more or less complete suspension, intended for internal administration. A mixture should have a "Shake Well" label.[top]
Mucilages: Viscid, adhesive liquids or jelly-like products prepared by dissolving or macerating natural gums or mucilaginous sub-stances in water. (Example - Acacia Mucilage is used to make an emulsion by the "wet-gum" method.)[top]
Nose Drops: None official now. They are aqueous or oily solutions or suspensions used for the same condition as sprays are used.[top]
Ointments: Preparations having a semisolid consistency which are intended for external use and for application with rubbing. They are usually composed of finely powdered drugs or mixtures of them. liquids, and other drug forms incorporated in appropriate bases of greasy, hydrophilic or nongreasy character. They should have an "External Use" label. Ointments may be prepared by fusion, levigation and incorporation, or by chemical reaction.[top]
Oleoresins: Resins in combination with fixed or volatile oils.[top]
Oleo-Gum-Resins: Resins in combination with gums and volatile oils.[top]
Ophthalmic Solutions: Sterile solutions, essentially free from foreign particles, suitably compounded and dispensed for instillation into the eye. More details will be studied about these preparations in Dispensing Pharmacy.[top]
Pastes: Ointment-like preparations made stiff by the addition of such powders as starch, zinc oxide, calcium carbonate, or a mixture of these.[top]
Plasters: Solid or semisolid adhesive masses with or without medicinal substances which are spread on muslin or other suitable backing and intended for external, application. (Mustard Plaster!)[top]
Pellets: These are small rod-shaped or ovoid-shaped, sterile tablets consisting of a highly purified drug, usually compressed without any excipients and intended for subcutaneous implantation into body tissue.[top]
Percolate: the liquid or solvent after it has been passed through the drug; it contains the extracted principles.[top]
Percolation: the process whereby a powder contained in a suitable vessel is extracted of its soluble constituents by the movement of a solvent through it. A PERCOLATOR is a cylindrical or conical vessel with a porous diaphragm at the bottom, into which the drug is placed, and its soluble portions extracted by the solvent moving evenly through it and out the bottom. See also: Marc [top]
Petroxolins: Perfumed preparations which are usually composed of medicinal substances in a saponated oily base and intended for external use.[top]
Pills: Small, globular or ovoid, unit dosage forms which are intended for oral administration. They usually contain two or more active, medicinal ingredients which are homogeneously mixed and made into pill mass by incorporation of the appropriate excipients. They may or may not have a coating to mask disagreeable taste.[top]
Powders: Intimate mixtures of finely powdered medicinals or of medicinal substances and diluents. Two types: (1) Bulk powders (2) Divided powders. [top]
Precipitant: the substance causing the precipitation.[top]
Precipitate: the separated solid.[top]
Precipitation: the process of separating a solid from its solution by the action of heat, light, or chemical substances.[top]
Pulverization by Intervention: the process of reducing substances to powder through the use of a foreign substance from which the powder is subsequently freed by some simple method, such as evaporation. Gum Camphor is powdered by rubbing it with a few drops of alcohol or chloroform, and continues rubbing until only the dry powder remains.[top]
Resins: Solid, insoluble, natural plant products.[top]
Solutions: Aqueous solutions of non-volatile substances. Exceptions: (1) some may contain volatile substances; (2) the solvent does not necessarily need to be water. The synonym for Solutions is "Liquors". See also: Ophthalmic Solutions [top]
Spirits: Alcoholic or hydroalcoholic solutions of volatile substances, usually volatile oils. They may be made by simple solution, distillation or a combination of maceration, straining, and solution. Example of the first of Compound Orange Spirit, the second one is "Alcohol" and the third is Peppermint Spirit.[top]
Sprays: Solutions of aromatic, astringent, vasoconstrictor, or mildly, antiseptic medicinal substances in suitable aqueous or oily vehicles. They are intended to give relief to congested membranes of the nose and throat and once were used with an atomizer or nebulizer. They are currently sprayed from soft plastic bottles, a pump type bottle, or an aerosol container.[top]
Sublimation: to separate a volatile solid from a nonvolatile solid. (Sublimed Sulfur)[top]
Sublingual Tablets: Meant to be inserted under the tongue and the active ingredients are absorbed through the oral mucosa. Neither this nor the buccal tablet is intended to be swallowed.[top]
Supernatant liquid: the liquid which remains in the container.[top]
Suppositories: Solid bodies of various shapes, usually medicated, and administered by being inserted into the orifices of the body with the exception of the mouth. The bases may be Cocoa Butter, or one of the water-soluble types. They may be prepared by hand molding or by fusion and pouring into a suitable mold.[top]
Suspensions: Preparations of finely divided drugs either intended for suspension in some suitable liquid prior to use or already in suspension in a liquid vehicle. They should have a "Shake Well" label.[top]
Swabs: Used for the same condition as some sprays, gargles and inhalants, except treatment is usually accomplished by using a stick with cotton on its end (Q-tips).[top]
Syrups: Liquid preparations of medicinal or flavoring substances ~n concentrated aqueous solutions of sugar. (Sometimes, dextrose and glycerin are used in place of sugar or syrup.)[top]
Tablets: Small, flat or discoid, solid bodies of medicinal substances intended with few exceptions, for oral administration. There are two principle types: (1) compressed tablets and (2) triturate tablets OR molded tablets. The manufacturer of compressed tablets is complicated and involves the preparation of the components and the use of a variety of tablet machines; more details will be given in a later course. See also: Buccal Tablets, Sublingual Tablets, Pellets, Effervescent Tablets [top]
Tablet Triturates: These may be prepared either by molding or by compression. They are small, round with flat opposing surfaces. Of Tablet Triturates there are (1) dispensing tablets and (2) hypodermic tablets. [top]
Tinctures: Alcoholic or hydroalcoholic solutions of chemicals or the therapeutically valuable constituents of vegetable or animal drugs. There are three different strength of Tinctures: 10% (made by maceration and/or percolation); 20% (made by simple solution; and 50% (made out of the fresh drug, such as Tincture of Lemon Peel). [top]
Torrefaction: the process of moderately heating, or roasting, organic substances. (Roasting Coffee - not pharmaceutical)[top]
Trituration: the process of reducing substances to fine particles in a mortar with a pestle. Mortars are usually made of glass porcelain, or wedgewood and the pestles are made of the same ' material as the mortar. [top]
Troches: Also called LOZENGES. They are solid, flat, round, oval, or variously shaped forms of medication not intended for chewing or swallowing, but to be dissolved slowly in the mouth. They usually act as local anesthetics, antiseptics, expectorants, demulcents, astringents, stimulants, or sedatives. [top]
Van der Waals forces:
Dipolar molecules frequently tend to align themselves with their neighbours, so that the negative pole of one molecule points toward the positive pole of the next. Thus large groups of molecules may be associated through weak attractions known as dipole-dipole forces.
Permanent dipoles are capable of inducing an electric dipole in nonpolar molecules in order to produce dipole-induced dipole interactions.
Nonpolar molecules can induce polarity in one another by induced dipole-induced dipole or London attractions. The weak electrostatic force by which nonpolar molecules such as hydrogen gas, carbon tetrachloride, and benzene attract one another was first recognized by London in 1930. The "London Force" is sufficient to bring about the condensation of nonpolar gas molecules so as to form liquids and solids when molecules are brough quite close to one another. Depends on temperature, distance, and steric factor. Prevalent in nonpolar hydrocarbon, aromatic systems, important in lipid solvents. 0.5 to 1 kcal/mol for each atom involved. [top]
Vaporization: the process of separating volatile substances from fixed bodies or from less volatile bodies, usually with the aid of heat at varying temperatures. [top]
Waters: Saturated, aqueous solutions of volatile substances, usually volatile oils. There are three methods by which waters are made: (1) distillation (2) solution and (3) the alternative solution method.[top]