Predicting polymorph stability
UK chemists have developed new multidisciplinary approaches that could be vital to the chemical and pharmaceutical development of new drugs.
Robert Lancaster and colleagues have observed the stability of polymorphic organic compounds and researched how the nature and amount of different impurities may affect the stability of the molecule in question. The group carried out a unique experiment in which they combine crystal structure prediction with other experimental methodologies. The result of this allows the user to identify the most stable polymorph, which is then useful in developing a new pharmaceutical drug.
Pharmaceutical companies adopt a more rigorous approach to screening for polymorphs. “In general they try to find and develop the most stable polymorph but aggressive timescales associated with the development process may mean that nasty surprises can still occur,” Lancaster says. His work on this area is aimed at removing the surprises currently seen in the process
Lancaster is looking at other well known polymorphic systems, and carrying out new analytical and crystallisation methodologies to discover the most stable polymorph.
Original publication
R W Lancaster, L D Harris and D Pearson, CrystEngComm, 2011.
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