Polymorphism is especially important in pharmaceuticals. Clinicians and formulators must ensure that a drug is present in its intended polymorphic form, as using the incorrect form can alter its performance and potentially compromise patient safety.
Suberic acid is an organic molecule used in drug synthesis and delivery, medical implants, and skin treatments. Two polymorphs are well established, α and β, with β generally more stable, but evidence suggests a third, γ, can form under certain conditions. We are investigating this γ polymorph by dissolving suberic acid in various organic solvents, aerosolizing the solutions, drying the resulting particles, collecting the crystals by impaction, and characterizing them with X-ray diffraction (XRD). We also measure particle size distributions with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS).
For suberic acid in acetone at 5 g/L, 1 g/L, 0.5 g/L, and 0.2 g/L, the XRD peaks assigned to the γ polymorph became more prominent as concentration decreased.