Isothermal microcalorimeter

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Isothermal microcalorimetry is a very versatile analytical method for characterizing processes involving heat conversion. It can be employed in various forms, in a static way as well as, for example, via the controlled introduction of reactants. With the aid of a modular design, the instrument applied for here is intended to enable static isothermal calorimetry as well as titrations (isothermal titration calorimetry) and measurements for monitoring dissolution or mixing processes (solution calorimetry) at temperatures relevant for the respective applications. It is going to be used by working groups from the pharmaceutical, chemical and process engineering institutes of the TU Braunschweig, which conduct interdisciplinary research in its Center of Pharmaceutical Engineering. The planned areas of application for the device are correspondingly extensive, as are the requirements for the measurement setup. Most applications are in the field of developing strategies for formulating active pharmaceutical ingredients with demanding physicochemical properties. An essential aspect of this research is the comprehensive physicochemical characterization of the formulations and their interactions with active ingredients and biological model systems. The device applied for will be used, among other things, to investigate the long-term stability and physical state of formulations, the interactions of active ingredients and excipients with colloidal and nanostructured carrier systems and their components, and the interactions of colloidal formulations with physiological (model) fluids and cell culture models. Static isothermal calorimetry will be used to monitor long-term physical processes (e.g., crystallization, polymorphic transformations, phase separation) and eventually also chemical changes. This method will also be used to study cell cultures and the metabolism of isolated cell systems. By means of isothermal titration calorimetry, interactions of nanoparticulate systems with pharmaceutically relevant binding partners, but also in more technically oriented systems, as well as between (model) biomolecules in solution, will be investigated. Solution calorimetry will be used to determine basic parameters for the determination of drug solubilities and the solid states in pharmaceutically relevant excipient systems. This experimental setup will also allow the investigation of the interaction of excipient systems with physiological fluids and the interaction of excipient solutions with pharmaceutical solids.