Amorphous pharmaceutical solids.

Abstract

Amorphous forms are, by definition, non-crystalline materials which possess no long-range order. Their structure can be thought of as being similar to that of a frozen liquid with the thermal fluctuations present in a liquid frozen out, leaving only "static" structural disorder. The amorphous solids have always been an essential part of pharmaceutical research, but the current interest has been raised by two developments: a growing attention to pharmaceutical solids in general, especially polymorphs and solvates and a revived interest in the science of glasses and the glass transition. Amorphous substances may be formed both intentionally and unintentionally during normal pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. The properties of amorphous materials can be exploited to improve the performance of pharmaceutical dosage forms, but these properties can also give rise to unwanted effects that need to be understood and managed in order for the systems to perform as required.