Effects of Humidity and Surfaces on the Melt Crystallization of Ibuprofen

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Dong-Joo Lee¹  Suyang Lee¹ 

[1] Department of Chemical Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 156-743, Korea;

关键词: crystallization;    ibuprofen;    melt;    humidity;    surfaces;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms130810296

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Melt crystallization of ibuprofen was studied to understand the effects of humidity and surfaces. The molecular self-assembly during the amorphous-to-crystal transformation was examined in terms of the nucleation and growth of the crystals. The crystallization was on Al, Au, and self-assembled monolayers with –CH₃, –OH, and –COOH functional groups. Effects of the humidity were studied at room temperature (18–20 °C) with relative humidity 33%, 75%, and 100%. Effects of the surfaces were observed at −20 °C (relative humidity 36%) to enable close monitoring with slower crystal growth. The nucleation time of ibuprofen was faster at high humidity conditions probably due to the local formation of the unfavorable ibuprofen melt/water interface. The crystal morphologies of ibuprofen were governed by the nature of the surfaces, and they could be associated with the growth kinetics by the Avrami equation. The current study demonstrated the effective control of the melt crystallization of ibuprofen through the melt/atmosphere and melt/surface interfaces.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.