Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Crystallising large, flexible molecules, which are becoming more common in pharmaceutical development, often presents significant challenges for chemists and particle scientists. These difficulties are sometimes attributed to the flexibility of the molecule, and the existence of multiple conformers in solution. Structurally related impurities, frequently present when crystallising these materials, can also impact on growth and habit, and both these aspects are considered in this thesis. This work considers two pharmaceutical compounds, a relatively small but nonetheless flexible molecule, ethenzamide, and a precursor of Amprenavir, a much larger molecule. Both compounds typically grow as thin needles in a wide variety of solvents, and effort was required to grow suitable crystals for structure determination. Ethenzamide has an unusual structure, the amide group being out-of-plane relative to the ring, while in all known co-crystals of the compound, including three new co-crystal structures determined in this work, it has a planar structure with an intramolecular hydrogen bond not seen in the single component crystal. Theoretical structure generation calculations suggest a second polymorph with a planar conformation may exist, though a screen has not found any further solid phases. ab initio work suggests the planar conformation is the stable arrangement in vacuo. Several structures for the Amprenavir intermediate have been determined, as an ethanol solvate, a methanol solvate and a hydrate. A phase diagram has been measured in the industrial solvent mix, and the nucleation and growth properties of this molecule, both pure and in the presence of several structurally related impurities, have been measured. The Cambridge Structural Database has been searched for similar structures, and conformational searches have been carried out for both molecules, using vacuum phase ab initio energy calculations. Infrared spectroscopy has been used to investigate solution phase structure. These theoretical and practical studies will try to relate conformational properties to crystallisation behaviour.

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L’augmentation du nombre d’interfaces dans une matrice céramique permet d’améliorer sa ténacité. L’étude de la structure feuilletée de la nacre a démontré que cette ténacité pouvait être accrue par la présence de pontages entre les couches. Dans la première partie, le modèle de décohésion proposé par Pompidou et al. a été utilisé pour choisir un bicouche dont l’interface est naturellement favorable aux décohésions. Compte tenu du contexte de l’étude, cette analyse a permis de choisir le couple SiC/pyC comme bi-couche de base pour l’étude des interfaces. Par la suite, des matrices multicouches modèles (SiC/pyC)n (SiC, carbure de silicium issu du mélange CH3SiCl3/H2 – pyC, pyrocarbone à partir du propane) ont été élaborées par dépôt chimique en phase vapeur (CVD). Deux voies de pontage ont été abordées. La première met en œuvre une discontinuité entre les couches : les conditions d’élaboration ont été optimisées de façon à contrôler la croissance de couches minces massives et le développement de particules de surface (submicroniques) faisant office de pontage. La deuxième est basée sur un gradient de composition entre les couches de SiC grâce au développement d’une couche de SiC riche en co-dépôt de carbone, une interphase mixte est créée. Le pontage est assuré par la présence simultanée dans les couches à gradient de composition de grains de SiC et d’une phase carbonée. Les propriétés physico-chimiques et structurales des différents éléments des matrices ont été analysées et les différents comportements des fissures dans chacune des matrices ont été observés à la suite d’essais mécaniques. / The improvement of ceramic matrix toughness may be achieved through the presence of interfaces. Moreover, studies on a mother of pearl structure have shown the usefulness of mineral bridges between the layers. On the first part of this work, the Pompidou model was used for the selection of a bi-layered ceramic with an interface which is naturally favorable to crack deflection. SiC/pyC was taken as basic material for the interfaces study. Then, multilayered ceramic matrices (SiC/pyC)n (silicon carbide from CH3SiCl3/H2 mixture – pyC from propane) were fabricated using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In the study, two bypass ways were proposed. On the one hand, a physical discontinuity exists between the different layers: elaboration parameters were optimized in order to develop both bulk layers and submicronic surface particles, acting as ceramic bypass. On the other hand, composition gradient films were developed between each SiC layers: by realizing carbon rich SiC layers, a mixed interphase was created. The presence of both SiC grains and carbon phases ensures the bypass structure. Physico-chemical and structural properties of multilayered ceramic matrices were analyzed and the crack propagation in each of them was observed following mechanical tests.