Terahertz Frequency-Domain Spectroscopy with a Method for Suppressing Water Vapor Absorption Peaks for Analysis of Pharmaceutical Hydrate Samples

Measurements of terahertz absorption spectra of pharmaceutical hydrate samples are achieved under a normal humidity condition by combining terahertz frequency-domain spectroscopy with a newly proposed method for suppressing absorption peaks caused by water vapor. In this method, only simple mathematical operations such as subtraction, thresholding, interpolation, and smoothing are applied to extinction (or absorbance) data obtained by locating samples under a normal humidity condition. By considering the difference in spectral line width between narrow absorption peaks caused by water vapor and the relatively wide absorption peaks caused by active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in solid forms, the absorption peaks caused by water vapor can be effectively suppressed without affecting the absorption peaks of the APIs in the samples. In the present study, levofloxacin hydrates were used as samples to investigate the performance of the proposed method. Spectra were obtained under both dry and normal humidity conditions. The temperature of the samples was raised from 300 to 363 K to dehydrate them and brought back to 313 K to observe hydration under the normal humidity condition. Spectra obtained under the normal humidity condition were processed with the proposed method. The spectra of the hydrates obtained under the dry condition were slightly different from those obtained under the normal humidity condition and processed by our method. Dehydration during the measurements under the dry condition was suggested. Stable and reliable results are expected by measuring spectra under normal humidity conditions and applying the proposed method to suppress absorption peaks by water vapor.