Verification of Common Stearates Without Complex Chemometrics with Agilent Vaya SORS

Magnesium, calcium, or zinc stearates are commonly used in pharmaceutical drug manufacturing. While these metal stearates exhibit similar chemical properties, they are not necessarily interchangeable in manufacturing processes. It is critical therefore that they are identified and differentiated at receipt in the warehouse to avoid process disruptions. Accurately differentiating stearate analogs at receipt by Raman spectroscopy has historically been challenging. Given the similarities of the spectra of the compounds, sophisticated chemometric software is often needed to build stearate models that are then used to identify them. This study shows that the Agilent Vaya handheld Raman spectrometer with Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) can identify metal stearates in their original primary packaging, without the need for complex chemometric software packages. The handheld Vaya Raman enables the selective verification of stearates using a two-criteria decision algorithm combined with the "Analogous Sample" software feature.