Abstract

Please join us at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology to hear Professor Tim Korter, Syracuse University present his talk: Can You Hear the Shape of a Crystal? Terahertz Vibrational Spectroscopy of Challenging Pharmaceutical Crystals

Solubility is a property of great interest in the pharmaceutical industry where solid-state drug formulations must maintain proper oral availability to be effective. The crystal structures of pharmaceuticals are the key to understanding and engineering enhanced solubilities. However, numerous drug molecules have unknown solid-state structures and new approaches are needed to address this. In this work, terahertz vibrational spectroscopy is used to measure the unique low-frequency vibrations of molecular crystals. Material-specific terahertz spectral signatures arise from the packing arrangements of the crystal components. The terahertz data are then used in partnership with quantum mechanical crystal structure prediction methods to achieve complete three-dimensional structural information about these challenging pharmaceutical solids. An overview of the approach will be described using molecular examples ranging from simple maleic acid to the more complex glibenclamide that highlight terahertz spectroscopy as an orthogonal means for solving pharmaceutical crystal structures.