The effect of variable heating rates on the efficiency or resolution of the derivative of the thermogravimetry profiles of three model
pharmaceutical compounds was investigated. The variable heating system utilized computer controlled algorithms for the evaluation of crystalline
sodium warfarin,
DuP 532 and hydrated
DuP 925 as model compounds with one, two and three step
weight loss profiles, respectively. As the heating modes were increased through each of the eight settings, the minimum heating rate decreased while the efficiency and resolution and the analysis times increased. The observed
weight loss remained relatively constant for each of the model compounds as the heating modes were increased. The efficiency of the derivative of the
weight loss profile of crystalline
sodium warfarin increased from 121 to 621 as the heating mode increased. The resolution between the two steps of the derivative of the
weight loss profile of
DuP 532 increased from 1.73 to 3.88 as the heating mode increased. For hydrated
DuP 925, the resolution increased from 1.49 to 5.46 between steps 1 and 2 of the derivative of the
weight loss profile and from 1.87 to 3.24 between steps 2 and 3 of the derivative of the
weight loss profile. Variable heating rates provided a valuable aid in obtaining high efficiency/resolution thermograms. The enhanced efficiency/resolution permitted greater separation of the volatilization process, especially for samples with multi-step
weight loss profiles. Increasing the heating mode afforded higher efficiencies/resolutions that typically reached a maximum value at mode 6.