An Interview With... Tom Blanton

摘要

How does X-Ray Powder Diffraction assist companies that are looking to develop products with ingredients that have poor solubility? A number of approaches have been developed to improve the solubility of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) including particle size control and chemical modifications. The effect of particle size control methods using mechanical (jet mill, ball mill) and engineering (cryogenic, crystal engineering) techniques can be monitored using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). As crystallites approach submicron to nanometer size, diffraction peak broadening can be used to determine the average crystallite size and the peak profile shape can provide information about the size distribution. Using XRPD along with particle size analytical techniques of microscopy and light scattering allows processing conditions to be optimized. The ICDD? Powder Diffraction File? (PDF?) has a crystallite size module for quick assessment of nominal crystallite size.