January
What better way to start a new year than sharing with you our most recent publication entitled “Polymorphism In Solid Dispersions.” The results obtained and presented within this publication serve to (i) guide the selection process for crystalline solid dispersion (CSDs) preparation methods, (ii) advocate for the use of characterization tools that ensure the accurate determination of the phase diagram for the polymorphic form of interest, and (iii) gain control over the critical quality attributes of CSDs (e.g., polymorph of the API). A lot of hard work went into the development of this scientific article, and we are extremely proud of our alumni undergraduate students Karina Sanabria Ortiz, Desire M. Ortiz, and current #TeamCDI member and graduate student researcher José R. Hernández Espinell for making this article come to be a reality. We also acknowledge the help and support of Giovanni López and @Francheska M Reyes for their technical assistance. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, the first 50 e-prints of the article are provided free of charge by the American Chemical Society (ACS) if you are an ACS member at the following address:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.cgd.9b01138 Otherwise, the article can be accessed through the following DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.9b01138 #CrystallizationDesignInstitute #TeamCDI |
February
We are excited to announce the latest book contribution of the #CrystallizationDesignInstitute! Dr. Stelzer collaborated in writing the book "Chapter 7: Process Intensification in Continuous Crystallization” in “The Handbook of Continuous Crystallization” edited by Dr. Nima Yazdanpanah and Prof. Zoltan K Nagy. What a way to start the new year!
Check it out here: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ebook/978-1-78801-214-0 |
What a better way to celebrate the things we love than to share with you our most recent publication in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B entitled “Potentiating Bisphosphonate-based Coordination Complexes to Treat Osteolytic Metastases”! The results presented within this publication provide evidence of the structure, stability, dissolution and cytotoxicity properties of alendronate (ALEN)-based coordination complexes aimed to treat osteolytic metastases. A lot of hard work went into the development of this scientific article, but above it, perseverance, teamwork, and love for doing good science made it truly happen. We are extremely proud of our team of students composed of Gabriel Quiñones (current CDI graduate research assistant and first author), Lesly Yohana Carmona Sarabia (current CDI graduate research assistant),Waldemar Rodríguez-Silva (past CDI undergraduate research assistant), Alondra Rivera(current CDI undergraduate research assistant) and Lorraine Feliciano Cruz (past CDI undergraduate research assistant) for taking this idea and developing into what it has become. Also, a special thanks to our collaborator Esther Peterson for sharing her expertise on how to probe the cytotoxicity of these materials. Don't stress this is not the end of the story for this team and the materials we make...so much more to love is soon to come.
You can read the publication following this DOI https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TB01857C |
July
We are very excited to announce the latest published contribution of the #CrystallizationDesignInstitute! Dr. López-Mejías collaborated in publishing an article “Leveraging Framework Instability: A Journey from Energy Storage to Drug Delivery” which narrates the story of how her former laboratory at the University of Michigan –Ann Arbor, tackled the application of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for drug delivery. This was the beginning of what has now become a funded project at the #CrystallizationDesignInstitute! Check out this publication at Synlett. (DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1707139)
https://www.thieme-connect.com/.../10.../s-0040-1707139.pdf |
September
We are very excited to announce the latest publication of the #CrystallizationDesignInstitute! Both Dr. López-Mejías & Dr. Stelzer co-authored a study published in the Journal Drug Metabolism and Personalized Therapy. This work was aimed at performing a genotype-driven pharmacokinetic (PK) simulations to predict warfarin levels in Puerto Ricans.
Check out this publication at Drug Metabolism and Personalized Therapy. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/dmdi-2020-0135) |
October
We are enthusiastic to share with you a publication by one of our former undergraduate students Isis Paola Carmona-Sepúlveda and Dr. Vilmalí López-Mejías. They collaborated with researchers at the Molecular Design Institute in NYU to discover and characterized as new crystal form of Deltamethrin as well-known and utilized insecticide. The manuscript is titled “A Deltamethrin Crystal Polymorph for more Effective Malaria Control”. The goal of this project was to develop a more efficient pesticide for Malaria control through polymorph discovery and control. Malaria is a disease transmitted through Anopheles mosquitoes. Pyrethroid insecticides are used to avoid propagation of the disease, however the Anopheles mosquito populations are becoming more resistant to these commonly used insecticides. Deltamethrin, a widely employed pyrethroid insecticide, is commercially available in form I. To get form II, Deltamethrin form I is heated and then cooled. Diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy were performed for solid characterization and confirmed the new polymorph. The researchers performed epidemiological modeling; which suggest that the new crystalline form (form II) is more effective in malaria control than form I even with the presence of high levels of resistance.
To access the article, visit: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2013390117 |
Dr. Vilmalí López-Mejías is a co-author in a recently published manuscript “Polymorphic Phase Transformation Pathways under Nanoconfinement: Flufenamic Acid.” This is a collaborative work between three universities, Tianjin University, New York University and University of Puerto Rico. This work focuses on polymorphism control and characterization of flufenamic acid (FFA). Flufenamic acid (FFA) is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) prescribed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and other inflammatory conditions. This compound is an excellent model for polymorphic compound because it possesses nine forms reported to date. FFA form VIII is the least stable polymorph, and thus characterization has been limited. In this communication, FFA crystallization was performed under nano scale confinement in a controlled pore glass (CPG), which allowed the measurement of FFA melting point (for the first time!) and study phase transformations among the different polymorphs, which turn out to be dependent upon the pore size of the CPG. While previous reports have demonstrated that nanoconfinement can alter (thermodynamic) polymorph stability rankings, these results illustrate that nanoscale confinement can also arrest and alter phase transformations kinetics such that new pathways can be observed an aspect of much relevance for nanoformulations of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
To access the article, visit: https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.0c01207 |
November
We would like to share our latest published article: “Design of Potential Pharmaceutical-Based Metal Complexes Derived from Cromolyn a Mast Cell Stabilizer”.
Former CDI research assistants Israel Rodriguez, Jeaninna Flores, and Joyce Serrano performed the work. It focuses on the design of pharmaceuticals-based metal complexes, formed by binding cromolyn sodium (CS) with bioactive metals. CS is prescribed to treat allergic diseases, and most recently it has been proven to show activity against coronary artery disease, Alzheimer, and motor neuron diseases due to its anti-inflammatory abilities. The conditions that led to the successful syntheses of these materials and their solid state were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, PXRD, SEMEDS, TGA, and SCXRD. These results confirm the composition, thermal stability, and packing modes of these crystalline materials. None of these conditions resulted in 3D flexible structures. Thus, the work did not attempt to address the reduction of the particle size of these pMCs. Interestingly, no other metal complexes employing CS have been reported in the literature; therefore, they represent the first three of such materials. These studies could lead to the development of novel multidrug delivery systems to better mitigate allergic and inflammatory diseases if 3D pMC structures containing cromolyn could be obtained and their size controlled. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c03320) |
We would like to announce another astonishing accomplishment from one of our principal investigators, Dr. Vilmalí López-Mejías, she is a co-author an article already published in the bulletin for the November issue of the Materials Research Society (MRS). The article is entitled, “Frontiers in Hybrid and Interfacial Materials Chemistry Research”.
The article describes the discussion that took place among several material scientists that attended a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) last year. Hybrid materias and interfaces were recently highlighted as a very important topic for future materials by the decadal report from US National Academics on the Frontiers of Materials Research. With the support of the NSF’s Division of Materials Research, the workshop aimed to identify fundamental questions and potential solutions common to multiple disciplines within the hybrid materials community; initiate collaborations between hybrid material researchers; and, raise awareness in the wider community about the experimental toolsets, simulation capabilities, and facilities that can accelerate this type of research. This article reports on the outcomes of the workshop as a basis for cross-community discussion. Other interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities are presented here, followed with a discussion of current areas of progress in sub-disciplines such as hybrid synthesis, functional surfaces, and functional interfaces. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2020.271) |
December |
We are very excited to announce the latest publication of the #CrystallizationDesignInstitute: “Solubility Measurements and Correlation of MBQ-167 in Neat and Binary Solvent Mixtures” in the Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data. This publication is the product of our first industrial-academic collaboration with MBQ Pharma, Inc., (https://mbqpharma.com/), the first Puerto Rican biopharmaceutical company founded by scientists from the University of Puerto Rico. In this publication, our graduate student Jocelyn M. Jiménez Cruz explored the solubility of MBQ-167, a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of metastatic cancer, in various class 2 and 3 solvents. This study will serve to advance the development of the crystallization process that can further the translation of MBQ-167 into a clinical setting. We are proud of Jocelyn and her hard work, effort, and dedication in this project.
To access the full article, visit: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jced.0c00908 |