Objective

To prepare porous core–shell composite particles (PCPs) in order to improve the flowability and compactibility of powder materials for direct compaction (DC), as well as the dissolution of tablets.

Significance

The results obtained are meaningful to boosting the development and further research of PCPs on DC. Methods: In this study, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC E3) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K30) were selected as shell materials, the Xiao Er Xi Shi formulation powder (XEXS) was used as the core materials, ammonium bicarbonate (NH₄HCO₃), and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) were employed as pore-forming agent. Using co-spray drying method to prepare composite particles (CPs). Then, the physical properties and comparison between different CPs were characterized comprehensively. Finally, the different CPs were directly compacted as tablets to explore the effect on the dissolution behavior of DC tablets, respectively.

Results

(i) The XEXS PCPs were prepared successfully by co-spray drying, and the yield of PCPs is almost 80%; (ii) The TS values of PCP-X-P-Na, PCP-X-P-NH₄, PCP-X-H-Na and PCP-X-P-Na were 5.70, 7.56, 3.98, and 6.88 times higher than that of raw material (X); (iii) The disintegration time of PCPs tablets decreased 10–25% when compared with CPs tablets; (iv) The values of Carr’s index (CI), Hausner ratio (HR), Caking strength (CS), and Cohesion index (CoI) of PCP-X-H-NH₄ were 19.16%, 19.29%, 40.14%, and 6.39% lower than that of X, respectively.

Conclusions

The PCPs prepared by co-spray drying did improve the flowability and compactibility of powder, as well as the dissolution of tablets.