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、溶出度等是制药行业总是要满足的特性。当今时代面临的知识鸿沟是试图将有机固体的表面性质与材料的整体行为(如流动或静电学)联系起来。在这种情况下，有机固体的表征更具挑战性，因为当开发这样一个系统时，会出现分子间弱的范德华相互作用。此外，在加工过程中，构成最终医药产品的粉末的多种成分的行为是一种复杂的功能，行业内用于生产的设备放大了这一功能(例如，使用金属柱可能会导致所涉材料非常容易获得电荷，进而影响其流动性)。该博士研究项目的目的是调查和了解药物固体的表面性质如何影响材料的整体行为，以及这将对最终产品的加工和放大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.