X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of Tablets

Some tablets of drug product have a coating applied to the surface. Although inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) or others is generally used as a method for analysis of the elements in drug products, if an entire tablet is pulverized or dissolved, it becomes difficult to differentiate the elements that originate from the coating and other elements. X-ray fluorescence analysis makes it possible to analyze tablets as-is without pulverization.
This article introduces an example of a simple analysis of unevenly-distributed elements like those in coatings, based on a comparison of analyses of pulverized and unpulverized tablets.