High-Tech Instrumentation for the Pharmaceutical Industry
The UK’s pharmaceutical and life sciences industry is one of the country’s largest and most innovative sectors, underpinning both economic growth and global healthcare leadership. With continued investment in advanced manufacturing, nanotechnology, and drug formulation, researchers and process engineers are placing greater emphasis on materials characterisation to understand surface properties, structural features, and nanoscale chemical interactions.
Quantum Design UK and Ireland (QD-UKI), working in partnership with leading international manufacturers, provides advanced analytical and microscopy tools that support pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and quality assurance. Two recent examples in our free Advanced Pharma magazine highlight how these technologies are being applied across the UK to address complex challenges in pharmaceutical research and production.
NanoMEGAS Precession Electron Diffraction
Specim FX10 Cost-effective Hyperspectral Camera
Easy to use Correlative AFM with SEM Microscopy Platform
PiF Microscopes for Nano-IR Chemical Analysis
ELDICO ED-1 Horizontal Electron Diffractometer
Sigray EclipseXRM-900 3D X-ray Microscope
The world’s only dedicated horizontal electron diffractometer
The ELDICO ED-1 device is dedicated solely to electron diffraction (ED, also known as 3D-ED, microED or electron diffraction tomography). It is a user-friendly device that investigates crystalline samples with particle sizes below 1000 nm. With a disruptive horizontal design and an innovative sample-handling mechanism, ELDICO ED-1 will help scientists enter the field of nano-crystallography and produce important structural information faster, with better quality and at lower cost. With this addition, any crystallographic lab will be able to perform routine analysis on samples that have so far been considered prohibitive – including nanocrystalline powders, minute quantities and phase mixtures.
ELDICO ED-1 Horizontal Electron Diffractometer
Revealing Crystal Structure of Carbamazepine with 3D Electron Diffraction Tomography
For industrial applications, it is of great interest to understand and determine the crystal structure, identify / characterise several possible polymorphs and to detect / quantify the crystallinity / amorphous phase of final products, since many important chemical and physical properties depend on the crystal structure properties.
Carbamazepine (CBZ), is a drug used primarily in the treatment of epilepsy and neuropathic pain. It may be used in schizophrenia along with other medications and as a second line agent in bipolar disorder. CBZ exists in several polymorphic forms.
Electron Diffraction Tomography analysis with TEM using ultrasensitive Timepix detector with no cooling holder allowed to collect diffraction tomography data from individual nanocrystals (size about 200 nm) and reconstruct the reciprocal space. Unit cell determination and structure solution from the measured intensity helped to identify same crystal structure as reported by X-ray diffraction.
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Non-Destructive Testing
