Surface Properties and the Manufacturability of Pharmaceutical Powders

众所周知，药品的可制造性与最终固体剂型的规格密切相关，因为纯度、稳定性、溶出度等是制药工业中必须始终满足的特性。目前面临的知识差距是试图将表面特性（如有机固体的表面能）与材料的整体行为（如流动或静电）联系起来。在这种情况下，有机固体的表征更具挑战性，因为当这种系统被开发时，分子间会出现弱范德华相互作用。此外，在加工过程中构成最终药品的粉末的多种成分的行为是一个复杂的功能，被工业内用于生产的设备放大（例如，使用金属柱可能导致所讨论的材料非常容易拾取电荷，例如，反过来影响其流动性）。这个博士研究项目的目的是调查和了解药物固体的表面特性如何影响材料的体积行为，以及这将对最终产品的加工和生产阶段产生什么影响。

The manufacturability of pharmaceutical products is known to be closely linked to the specifications of the end solid dosage form in the sense that the purity, stability, dissolution etc. are characteristics to be always met in the pharmaceutical industry. The knowledge gap that is faced in current times is trying to link surface properties such as surface energies of organic solids to the bulk behaviours of the material, such as flow or electrostatics. In this scenario, organic solids are much more challenging to characterise, because of the intermolecular weak van der Waals interactions that arise when such a system is developed. Furthermore, the behaviour of the multiple components of powders that constitute a final pharmaceutical product during processing, is a complex function that is amplified by the equipment used for production within the industry (i.e. using metal columns may lead to the material in question picking up charge very easily, for instance, in turn affecting its flowability). The aim of this PhD research project is to investigate and understand how surface properties of pharmaceutical solids influence the bulk behaviour of the material and what effect this will have on the processing and scale up stages of production of the end product.