Characterization of the heat behavior of amiodarone hydrochloride

Amiodarone hydrochloride, an antiarrhythmic and vasodilatory drug, was characterized from a thermodynamic point of view. Its XRPD profile was found to be in agreement with the single crystal structure previously reported. When the DSC heating rates are not high enough, the compound starts to degrade before melting. This phenomenon is emphasized during melting and also in the liquid state. The degradation products were identified by coupling TGA/FTIR experiments. When increasing the DSC scan rates, the onset of melting as well as the endothermic value of the signal increase to reach plateau values. This clearly indicates that the degradation processes have been pushed back to higher temperatures than the melting temperature. This allowed determining accurately the melting characteristics of the compound. The so-obtained melting temperature was then confirmed by Fast Scanning Calorimetry.