APPLICATIONS OF ISOTHERMAL MICROCALORIMETRY IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

Isothermal heat conduction microcalorimetry is a technique which can b e used to study very many physical and chemical processes. The experim ental yield can potentially give information on thermodynamics of the process, kinetics (mechanism) and analysis. It is argued that with car eful experimental design, and experienced data interpretation this tec hnique is an extremely valuable tool for pharmaceutical scientists. Th e existing literature is discussed in terms of microbiological investi gations, tissue culture studies, physical pharmacy (including immersio n, adsorption, crystal properties, dissolution and targeting), and che mical stability studies.