Pharmaceutical Microscopy

This course focuses on two major problems in the pharmaceutical industry: identification of particle contamination and characterization of the solid state.

Students learn to recognize common contaminants and to effectively characterize unknown materials so that they can be readily recognized and compared with candidate sources of contamination. Problems involving polymorphism, compatibility and hydrates are examined using polarized light microscopy, solubility, recrystallization and hotstage/fusion methods.