ABSTRACT
All properly designed investigations into the solid state of a pharmaceutical compound or its formulation begin with an understanding of the structural aspects involved, and it is generally accepted that the primary tool for the study of solid-state crystallography is that of X-ray diffraction (XRD). The history associated with the preparation of materials of various types determines their structure, which in turn determines their properties beyond the role of mere chemistry. The interrelationship between structure, properties, and processing is very important in pharmaceutics, as well as in materials science. Therefore, it is critical to characterize the structures of a drug and its nonactive components in a given formulation, to relate these to desired properties, and to use this information to understand the consequences of preparation procedures.
