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Solid state research is now easier than ever with benchtop analytical technology

Pharmaceutical, agrochemical, petrochemical and food industries all rely on crystallization experiments to study impurities and assess product quality. The problem is, they all face significant challenges in the availability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), forcing them to conduct frequent and complex crystallization experiments with less material. Here, Dr Carmen Guguta, global head of business development and marketing at crystallization expert Technobis Crystallization Systems, explores how laboratories can do more complex experiments with small amounts of material by using benchtop analytical technology.

For years, laboratories have been able to access cheaper raw materials from across the world, but recent disruptions have made this more difficult. For example, a report by the European Parliament concluded that 60 to 80 per cent of APIs are manufactured in India or China. However, pandemic travel restrictions across these regions, as well as other geopolitical issues like Brexit and the Ukraine-Russia conflict, have disrupted the supply of these materials, forcing many laboratories to look elsewhere.

As a result, API prices have soared, having a knock-on effect on drugs like paracetamol, meropenem and metformin, which have increased in price by 139, 127 and 124 per cent, respectively. Transportation prices have also soared. In some cases, the cost of shipping per kilogram of freight has increased by up to 360 per cent.

This has placed heavy financial burdens on companies, who must carry out frequent and complex crystallization experiments, such as evaporation and vapor diffusion, to obtain X-ray quality single crystals, with smaller amounts of material. If laboratories were to upgrade their workflow using innovative benchtop equipment, running multiple, complex experiments simultaneously with small sample sizes would become easy.

Effortless experimentation

Conducting a full crystallization screen, where parameters are carefully controlled to obtain X-ray quality single crystals, typically requires about one gram of sample. However, due to the challenges affecting API availability, this isn’t always feasible for laboratories.

Laboratories need an instrument capable of carrying out a full screen with less material. For example, they can benefit from single benchtop instruments that carry out slurry experiments, thermocycling, slow cooling, and sublimation with real-time turbidity readings, using just one milligram of sample. It is now even possible to run vapor diffusion and evaporation crystallization experiments on these instruments, adding to their versatility. These are more advanced processes that involve carefully controlling vacuum pressures, temperatures and stirring speeds to obtain X-ray quality single crystals for structural determination of the API.

Traditionally, many of these experiments were conducted separately, requiring multiple machines, often spread over different labs. As a result, it could take several days to grow single crystals of an X-ray quality. Transporting samples to different machines also increases the risk of cross contamination as well as requiring more manual labor.

Using benchtop equipment like Technobis’ CrystalBreeder™, which can conduct up to 32 parallel experiments at working volumes of 0.06–0.10 milliliters, means that X-ray quality single crystals can be grown within four hours. This helps to reduce the time to market for any company that relies on crystallization research for its products. Performing these experiments in one place also reduces manual labor and avoids contamination.

Upgrading to benchtop analytical technology does not have to be complicated or require an expensive overhaul of your laboratory. With a reliable partner like Technobis, you can easily choose the right equipment for your application and finally start doing more with less.

About Technobis Crystallization Systems

Technobis Crystallization Systems is a world leading technology provider for solid-state research, process development and formulation. Our mission is to help research succeed!

Since 2005, platforms for accelerating crystallization research have been successfully developed and installed in nearly every pharmaceutical research lab in the world. With more than 600 units in the field, a large community of scientists have been enabled to make a significant contribution to the accelerated development of new pharmaceuticals. In the last few years, new applications have been developed in agrochemical, fine chemical, military and (bio) fuel research, food and personal care creating new markets focused on understanding the importance of crystallization research.