Effects of grinding and humidification on the transformation of conglomerate to racemic compound in optically active drugs

Ronald C.D. Breslow (1931-2017): A career in review

Reviewed herein are key research accomplishments of Professor Ronald Charles D. Breslow (1931-2017) throughout his more than 60 year research career. These accomplishments span a wide range of topics, most notably physical organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and bioorganic chemistry. These topics are reviewed, as are topics of molecular electronics and origin of chirality, which combine to make up the bulk of this review. Also reviewed briefly are Breslow's contributions to the broader chemistry profession, including his work for the American Chemical Society and his work promoting gender equity. Throughout the article, efforts are made to put Breslow's accomplishments in the context of other work being done at the time, as well as to include subsequent iterations and elaborations of the research.

Pasteur made simple – mechanochemical transformation of racemic amino acid crystals into racemic conglomerate crystals

Racemic compounds of proteinogenic amino acids valine, leucine and isoleucine were transformed to their corresponding conglomerates via a metal-mediated mechanochemical process.

Quantifying crystal form content in physical mixtures of (+/-)-tartaric acid and (+)-tartaric acid using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy

The objective of this study was to use diffuse reflectance near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to determine racemic compound content in physical mixtures composed primarily of the enantiomorph and to assess the error, instrument reproducibility and limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of the method. Physical mixtures ranging from 0 to 25% (+/-)-tartaric acid in (+)-tartaric acid were prepared and spectra of the powder samples contained in glass vials were obtained using a Foss NIRSystems Model 5000 monochrometer equipped with a Rapid Content Analyzer scanning from 1100 to 2500 nm. A calibration curve was constructed by plotting (+/-)-tartaric acid weight percent against the 2(nd) derivative values of log (1/R) vs lambda at a single wavelength, normalized with a denominator wavelength (1480 nm/1280 nm). Excellent linearity was observed (R(2)=0.9999). The standard error of calibration (SEC) was 0.07 and the standard error of prediction (SEP) for the validation set was 0.11. Instrument and method errors for samples in the 2% composition range ((+/-)-tartaric acid in (+)-tartaric acid) were less than 1% RSD and 3% RSD, respectively. The practical LOD and LOQ were 0.1% and 0.5%, respectively, and comparable to the calculated LOD and LOQ. These studies show that NIRS can be used as a rapid and sensitive quantitative method for determining racemate content in the presence of the enatiomerically pure crystal in the solid-state.

Factors affecting the apparent solubility of ursodeoxycholic acid in the grinding process

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) was ground by a vibrating mill. Apparent solubility of the ground sample was determined by Coulter counter method. The samples were characterized by pore size distribution measurement, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) measurement, near infra-red (NIR) spectroscopy and contact angle measurement. The dispersive and polar components of surface free energy were calculated from the contact angle data determined by a contact angle analyzer. Surface polarity was calculated from the surface free energy components. The apparent solubility of UDCA was increased by the grinding with vibrating mill, however, the particle size of ground sample was not decreased. An amorphization was observed in the PXRD pattern of the ground sample, and the crystallinity of sample was decreased with increasing the grinding time. During the initial grinding, the dispersive component of surface free energy was decreased, whereas the polar part of surface free energy was increased. The surface polarity of the sample was increased in the same manner. Relationship between the solubility and the factors changing in the grinding process was evaluated. There was a significant correlation between the apparent solubility and the surface polarity and crystallinity of the sample. The NIR spectra confirmed the appearance of [bond]OH group on the sample surface. The apparent solubility increase of the ground sample was closely related to the improvement of the surface polarity and the destruction of crystalline structure.