Towards an Understanding of the Structurally Based Potential for Mechanically Activated Disordering of Small Molecule Organic Crystals

The potential for various small molecule organic crystals to undergo complete mechanically induced disordering is investigated. A model is proposed, which considers changes in free energy required for lattice incorporation of a critical dislocation density. Application requires knowledge of a few physical properties, namely the elastic shear modulus, Burgers vector magnitude, molar volume, melting temperature, and heat of fusion. The model was tested using seven compounds; acetaminophen, aspirin, γ-indomethacin, salicylamide, sucrose, and two proprietary drug compounds, PFZ1 and PFZ2. Crystalline solids were subjected to high shear, controlled temperature comminution for various durations, after which the samples were examined using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results verified that acetaminophen, aspirin, and salicylamide, which were suggested by the model to be resistant to complete mechanical disordering, remained fully crystalline, even after 5 h of milling. Sucrose and γ-indomethacin were both predicted to be susceptible to amorphization, which was confirmed by physical characterization. Single, 3-h grinding experiments were performed on two proprietary compounds, PFZ1 and PFZ2. The model indicated that each should be resistant to complete disordering, a trend held by PFZ1. Evidence of partial disordering of PFZ2 was unexpected and is discussed with respect to possible temperature effects.