The influence of solute concentration and filtration on mesoscale clusters of flufenamic acid, a typical pharmaceutical compound, in ethanol.

Hypothesis: It is hypothesised in this work that mesoscale clusters will be present in both undersaturated and supersaturated solutions of organic pharmaceutical molecules. These clusters, being loose aggregates, could be sensitive to shear forces experienced during filtration. Thus, comparing the behaviour of these clusters alongside nanoparticles during filtration-an important sample treatment parameter during crystallization-will elucidate qualitative differences from solid, crystalline nanoparticles of similar size.

Guest Diffusion Versus Recrystallization in A Single Crystal: Two Growing Mechanisms for Griseofulvin Clathrates.

Griseofulvin represents a rare case of a close-packed organic apohost that can clathrate selected volatile guests in a solid-gas fashion. Inclusion mechanisms and solvent exchange were investigated by a combination of single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, coupled to optical microscopy and thermal analyses. In particular, gas diffusion and dissolution/recrystallization are alternatively observed, depending on the host polymorph, as well as the chemical nature of the guest and its physical state.

System analysis with life cycle assessment for NiMH battery recycling.

The nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery technology has been designed for use in electric vehicles, solar-powered applications and power tools. These batteries contain the critical and strategic raw materials cobalt, nickel and several rare earth elements (REE). When designing a battery recycling process, there are several choices to be made regarding end-products and process chemicals.

Tracking Prenucleation Molecular Clustering of Salicylamide in Organic Solvents.

Crystal nucleation shapes the structure and product size distribution of solid-state pharmaceuticals and is seeded by early-stage molecular self-assemblies formed in host solution. Here, molecular clustering of salicylamide in ethyl acetate, methanol, and acetonitrile was investigated using photon correlation spectroscopy. Cluster size steadily increased over 3 days and with concentration across the range from undersaturated to supersaturated solutions.

Impact of carrier particle surface properties on drug nanoparticle attachment.

Hypothesis: The stabilization and isolation to dryness of drug nanoparticles has always been a challenge for nano-medicine production. In the past, the use of montmorillonite (MMT) clay carrier particles to adsorb drug nanoparticles and maintain their high surface area to volume ratio after isolation to dryness has proven to be effective. We hypothesise that the distribution of hydrophilic and hydrophobic patches on the clay's surface as well as its porosity/roughness, hinder the agglomeration of the drug nanoparticles to the extent that they retain their high surface area to volume ratio and display fast dissolution profiles.