Glossary of Terms Related to Pharmaceutics (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)

doi:10.1515/ci.2009.31.4.28c

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Glossary of Terms Related to Pharmaceutics (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)

Published/Copyright: September 1, 2009

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From the journal Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC Volume 31 Issue 4

Glossary of Terms Related to Pharmaceutics (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)

Eli Breuer, Mukund Shankar Chorghade, János Fischer, and Gershon Golomb

Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2009

Vol. 81, No. 5, pp. 971–999

The idea of constructing a glossary of terms related to pharmaceutics was first raised at the meeting of the Section on Medicinal Chemistry of the Division of Chemistry and Human Health in 1999 and became a recognized project in 2001.

Prior to this glossary, the Division of Chemistry and Human Health did not deal with the areas of pharmacy and pharmaceutics, although the Section on Medicinal Chemistry has dealt with closely related subjects, such as toxicology, drug metabolism, pharmaceutically acceptable drug salts, training and research in medicinal chemistry in developing countries, and the glossary of terms used in medicinal chemistry, as well as other topics.

“Pharmaceutics” is defined in this glossary as the science of the preparation of drugs, dosage forms, and drug delivery systems, taking into account the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the drug as well as its physical and chemical properties. Thus, many branches of chemistry, such as organic, inorganic, solid state, colloid, and surface chemistry, as well as nanotechnology and others, play roles in pharmaceutics. Even the more biologically oriented branch of pharmaceutics—i.e., biopharmaceutics—draws on chemical concepts, such as (pharmaco)kinetics, absorption, dissolution, diffusion, and others. Therefore, it is timely for IUPAC to publish recommendations in this area.

The field of pharmaceutics itself is of a multidisciplinary nature, as its practitioners come from a variety of disciplines, such as chemistry or various biological sciences; thus, a glossary containing authoritative definitions would be useful for them. The terms used in pharmaceutics are rarely covered by existing glossaries; the few glossaries that do include them provide definitions that are often inappropriate for the field of pharmaceutics and require new or modified definitions to better fit the new context.

This glossary of terms related to pharmaceutics is needed by practitioners in the field, because it fulfills an important and crucial role that is different from the roles of other scientific disciplines involved in the drug-making process. The glossary contains 168 definitions used in pharmaceutics. These terms are related to various aspects of this discipline, such as (1) physicochemical characterization of pharmaceutical preparations and the active ingredients they contain, (2) unit operations used in the practice of pharmaceutics, (3) terms related to the various dosage forms, (4) terms related to the various modes and routes of drug delivery, (5) terms used in pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics in general, and (6) additional miscellaneous terms.

Considerable effort was made to make all the terms in the glossary compatible with similar terms (where they exist) in the online IUPAC Gold Book. Readers are invited to point out any errors or inconsistencies to the authors.

For more information and comments, contact Task Group Chair Eli Breuer

<elib@ekmd.huji.ac.il>.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-04-10-14

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Published Online: 2009-09-01

Published in Print: 2009-07

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2009.31.4.28c