Abstract
The effect of reaction condition, solvent addition and thermal treatment on the bulk density, crystallinity and chemical properties of the freeze-dried cefazohn sodium was inves tigated to prepare the cefazolin sodium powder for injection with good flowability. Crystalline cefazolin sodium powder with high untapped-bulk density (about 45%) and low compressibility (about 40%) was obtained by solvent addition to the very highly concentrated cefazohn sodium solution followed by subsequent thermal treatment before freeze-drying. The desirable solvent was low substituted alcohol such as isopropyl alcohol and anhydrous ethanol with the final concentration of about 9%. The pH adjustment and nitrogen gas purging during the reaction did not give significant effect on the chemical properties such as content, color, transmittance and pH of the reconstituted cefazolin sodium aqueous solution.