Rheological studies of tautomerization kinetics in supercooled glibenclamide drug.

Rheological measurements have been applied to study the tautomerization of the pharmaceutically active compound glibenclamide. The rate constant and activation energy of the imidic-acid-amide transformation have been successfully determined by monitoring the evolution of shear viscosity. The kinetic parameters from rheological measurements agree reasonably well with the data previously obtained from dielectric spectroscopy. The present Brief Report demonstrates that rheology can provide a fast and precise way to characterize the reaction kinetics of tautomerization.