The stability of pharmaceutical solids is impacted by the properties of both active and inactive ingredients. Given that the aqueous solubility of solid-state medicinal products can be directly linked to the component properties, it is prudent to carefully study these materials to predict bioavailability and shelf stability. The relative energetic stabilities of the molecular crystals of interest are governed by both the intermolecular forces and the molecular conformations within the structure. In this research, the electronic origins of crystalline stability were investigated using a combination of solid-state density functional theory (ss-DFT) and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Terahertz spectroscopy of the lattice vibrations offers a sensitive probe of solid-state interactions and serves as a rigorous benchmark for testing the quality of the applied theoretical methods. Vibrational simulations of different polymorphic forms are also useful for investigating the relative thermodynamic stabilities of these structures. Through the calculation of Gibbs free energy versus temperature trends, it was possible to not only identify enantiotropic or monotropic relationships between polymorphs, but also the precise transition temperature linking enantiotropic pairs. These combined experimental and computational methods were extended to analyzing the relative stabilities of not only pure solids, but also cocrystals. The successful use of DFT for identifying relative stabilities of known crystal structures led to its use for crystal structure prediction. Overall, this work has demonstrated the extensive applicability of ss-DFT in the analysis of electronic and thermodynamic relationships within polymorphic and pseudopolymorhic systems. Application of this methodology to pharmaceutical solids has provided new insights into the most important contributors to the stabilities of these materials.
","abstract_html":"<p>The stability of pharmaceutical solids is impacted by the properties of both active and inactive ingredients. Given that the aqueous solubility of solid-state medicinal products can be directly linked to the component properties, it is prudent to carefully study these materials to predict bioavailability and shelf stability. The relative energetic stabilities of the molecular crystals of interest are governed by both the intermolecular forces and the molecular conformations within the structure. In this research, the electronic origins of crystalline stability were investigated using a combination of solid-state density functional theory (ss-DFT) and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Terahertz spectroscopy of the lattice vibrations offers a sensitive probe of solid-state interactions and serves as a rigorous benchmark for testing the quality of the applied theoretical methods. Vibrational simulations of different polymorphic forms are also useful for investigating the relative thermodynamic stabilities of these structures. Through the calculation of Gibbs free energy versus temperature trends, it was possible to not only identify enantiotropic or monotropic relationships between polymorphs, but also the precise transition temperature linking enantiotropic pairs. These combined experimental and computational methods were extended to analyzing the relative stabilities of not only pure solids, but also cocrystals. The successful use of DFT for identifying relative stabilities of known crystal structures led to its use for crystal structure prediction. Overall, this work has demonstrated the extensive applicability of ss-DFT in the analysis of electronic and thermodynamic relationships within polymorphic and pseudopolymorhic systems. Application of this methodology to pharmaceutical solids has provided new insights into the most important contributors to the stabilities of these materials.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dierks, Teresa"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Chemistry","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lisa Manning","Timothy Korter"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-12-21T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-12-21T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:55:37Z","subjects":["cocrystal","density functional theory","polymorph","solid state","terahertz","Physical Sciences and Mathematics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://surface.syr.edu/etd/969","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lisa Manning","Timothy Korter"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dierks, Teresa"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Chemistry"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["cocrystal","density functional theory","polymorph","solid state","terahertz","Physical Sciences and Mathematics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/969"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The stability of pharmaceutical solids is impacted by the properties of both active and inactive ingredients. Given that the aqueous solubility of solid-state medicinal products can be directly linked to the component properties, it is prudent to carefully study these materials to predict bioavailability and shelf stability. The relative energetic stabilities of the molecular crystals of interest are governed by both the intermolecular forces and the molecular conformations within the structure. In this research, the electronic origins of crystalline stability were investigated using a combination of solid-state density functional theory (ss-DFT) and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Terahertz spectroscopy of the lattice vibrations offers a sensitive probe of solid-state interactions and serves as a rigorous benchmark for testing the quality of the applied theoretical methods. Vibrational simulations of different polymorphic forms are also useful for investigating the relative thermodynamic stabilities of these structures. Through the calculation of Gibbs free energy versus temperature trends, it was possible to not only identify enantiotropic or monotropic relationships between polymorphs, but also the precise transition temperature linking enantiotropic pairs. These combined experimental and computational methods were extended to analyzing the relative stabilities of not only pure solids, but also cocrystals. The successful use of DFT for identifying relative stabilities of known crystal structures led to its use for crystal structure prediction. Overall, this work has demonstrated the extensive applicability of ss-DFT in the analysis of electronic and thermodynamic relationships within polymorphic and pseudopolymorhic systems. Application of this methodology to pharmaceutical solids has provided new insights into the most important contributors to the stabilities of these materials.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF RELATIVE ENERGETIC STABILITIES OF CRYSTALLINE ANHYDROUS POLYMORPHS AND PSEUDOPOLYMORPHS"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lisa Manning","Timothy Korter"],"dc:creator":["Dierks, Teresa"],"dc:description.abstract":["The stability of pharmaceutical solids is impacted by the properties of both active and inactive ingredients. Given that the aqueous solubility of solid-state medicinal products can be directly linked to the component properties, it is prudent to carefully study these materials to predict bioavailability and shelf stability. The relative energetic stabilities of the molecular crystals of interest are governed by both the intermolecular forces and the molecular conformations within the structure. In this research, the electronic origins of crystalline stability were investigated using a combination of solid-state density functional theory (ss-DFT) and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Terahertz spectroscopy of the lattice vibrations offers a sensitive probe of solid-state interactions and serves as a rigorous benchmark for testing the quality of the applied theoretical methods. Vibrational simulations of different polymorphic forms are also useful for investigating the relative thermodynamic stabilities of these structures. Through the calculation of Gibbs free energy versus temperature trends, it was possible to not only identify enantiotropic or monotropic relationships between polymorphs, but also the precise transition temperature linking enantiotropic pairs. These combined experimental and computational methods were extended to analyzing the relative stabilities of not only pure solids, but also cocrystals. The successful use of DFT for identifying relative stabilities of known crystal structures led to its use for crystal structure prediction. Overall, this work has demonstrated the extensive applicability of ss-DFT in the analysis of electronic and thermodynamic relationships within polymorphic and pseudopolymorhic systems. Application of this methodology to pharmaceutical solids has provided new insights into the most important contributors to the stabilities of these materials.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/969"],"dc:subject":["cocrystal","density functional theory","polymorph","solid state","terahertz","Physical Sciences and Mathematics"],"dc:title":["EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF RELATIVE ENERGETIC STABILITIES OF CRYSTALLINE ANHYDROUS POLYMORPHS AND PSEUDOPOLYMORPHS"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Chemistry"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:55:37Z"}