What Is a Glass Vial?
A Glass Vial is one of the containers that enclose injectable drugs, samples, or medicines.
It is a glass vial with a rubber stopper, and the contents are sucked out by inserting a needle into the stopper. In the Japanese Pharmacopoeia, it is classified as a glass pharmaceutical container with a stopper.
Unlike ampoule bottles, which are also drug containers, these bottles are easy to open (there is no need to cut the glass to open the bottle, which reduces the risk of injury). They are also highly convenient because they can be used in multiple portions.
Uses of Glass Vials
1. Pharmaceutical Products
Glass vials are used as containers for pharmaceutical products, especially lyophilized and liquid preparations. A lyophilized preparation is an aqueous solution of a pharmaceutical product that is lyophilized to form a product (preparation).
Glass Vials for pharmaceuticals consist of a combination of a glass tube bottle (vial), a rubber stopper, and a metal (usually aluminum) cap. The vial is used with a syringe equipped with a needle, and the needle is inserted into the rubber stopper.
For lyophilized preparations, the specified dissolving solution is required. Inject the specified amount of dissolving solution with a syringe and suck up the required amount of drug solution after it is completely dissolved. In the case of a liquid preparation, aspirate the solution with a syringe as it is.
2. Sealing of Analysis Sample
In addition to pharmaceuticals, the sealer is also used for sealing samples for high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. For this application, packing and lids that can withstand organic solvents are used.
Examples include Teflon-surfaced silicone rubber or butyl rubber septums (packings) and polypropylene screw-top lids (screw caps). Even highly volatile samples can be held until analysis without volatilization.
During analysis, a needle equipped with a high-performance liquid chromatography or gas chromatography injector is inserted into the septum and the sample is sucked up. After the needle is removed, the hole in the septum is sealed (resealed), allowing the sample to be reanalyzed to some extent.
Principle of Glass Vial
1. For Pharmaceutical Products
Glass Vials for pharmaceutical use are covered with a rubber stopper and an aluminum seal to make a double lid. The rubber stopper is crimped when the aluminum seal is placed over the vial, resulting in a tight seal, which is advantageous for long-term storage.
The top of the aluminum seal has a round hole through which the drug or sample inside can be removed with a syringe needle. One of the main characteristics of Glass Vials is that they can maintain the quality of the drug or sample inside for a long period of time. The reasons for the high stability are as follows:
Oxidation of the contents can be prevented.
The body of the vial (glass) is not permeable to gases and can be sealed with a rubber stopper, preventing air from entering. This prevents oxidation of the contents.
Materials with low reactivity with chemicals are used.
The glass materials used for Glass Vials are either borate glass or soda lime glass. Boronate glass has a low coefficient of thermal expansion and is hard. It is made by cutting a long cylindrical piece of material and is used for small capacity vials and glass vials intended for lyophilization.
The latter type of glass, soda-lime glass, is composed mainly of silicon dioxide, sodium oxide, and calcium oxide. It is formed by pouring molten glass into a mold and blowing air into it, making it possible to mass-produce it at low cost.
All of these materials have low reactivity with chemicals, and the quality of the pharmaceuticals inside can be maintained stably.
2. For Analytical Samples
Glass Vials for analytical samples can be either covered with an aluminum seal with a rubber stopper (crimp-top vial) or with a septum secured by a screw-top lid (screw-top vial), as is the case with pharmaceutical products.