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Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC)
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Tablet Coating: Not Just a Pretty Colour
These activities, produced by The Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC), help students understand about the formulation and design of coating used for tablets taken as medicines. Designed originally as a unit of GNVQ teaching, the materials contain a range of practical investigations that would be useful for students studying post-16 chemistry, applied science or pharmaceutical science courses.
The activities include:
Which tablet is coated and how thick is the coating?
This simple task will acquaint students some of the characteristics of coatings.
How soluble are the tablets?
This task investigates how coating affect solubility.
Why are coatings important?
Students examine how coatings influence the stage at which the tablets dissolve and are absorbed by the body.
The cost of a mistake?
Students estimate the loss in revenue if a batch of coatings do not meet the required specification.
Microbiological contamination
Students identify the stage in the tablet-coating process at which biological contamination could be introduced.
Chemical contamination
This assignment provides an opportunity to introduce students to IR spectroscopy in order to identify a chemical contaminant.
Developing new markets
Students devise a method of monitoring the resistance of the coating on iron tablets. They investigate the chemical dissolution of the coating in an acidic environment as found in the stomach.
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Please be aware that resources have been published on the website in the form that they were originally supplied. This means that procedures reflect general practice and standards applicable at the time resources were produced and cannot be assumed to be acceptable today. Website users are fully responsible for ensuring that any activity, including practical work, which they carry out is in accordance with current regulations related to health and safety and that an appropriate risk assessment has been carried out.
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Tablet coating 6.3 MB
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Tablet coating 6.3 MB
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