Objectives: To provide a comprehensive understanding of the competing thermodynamic and kinetic factors governing the crystallization of various hydrate systems. The ultimate goal is to utilize this understanding to improve the control over the unit operations involving hydrate formation, as well as to optimize the bioavailability of a given drug product.
Key findings: The thermodynamic and kinetic factors that govern hydrate crystallization are introduced and the current status of the endeavour to gain a mechanistic understanding of the phenomena that occur during the crystallization of different hydrate systems is discussed. The importance of hydrate investigation in the pharmaceutical field is exemplified by examining two specific hydrate systems: the polymorphic hydrate system and hydrates of pharmaceutical salts.
Summary: This review identifies the factors that are of critical importance in the investigation of anhydrate/hydrate systems. This knowledge can be used to control the phase transformation during pharmaceutical processing and storage, as well as in building a desired functionality for the final formulation.
© 2010 The Authors. JPP © 2010 Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.