Improving sensory characteristics through cocrystallization of antibiotic molecules for paediatric use

The synthesis of cocrystals is a rapidly growing branch of supramolecular chemistry, which brings the engineering of new crystalline forms to a higher level of versatility compared to single-component crystals. The use of cocrystallization technology for improving sensory characteristics of drugs, including palatability, has been so far neglected. In this project, the most important supramolecular synthetic strategies will be explored during to obtain functional solids with improved properties of specific antibiotics. The project therefore will consist on the selection of a molecular library containing molecules that present suitable functional groups for cocrystallization and, at the same time, the required macroscopic properties such as sweeteners and permeability enhancers. The new cocrystalline forms obtained will be synthetized and characterized using different solid-state techniques including calorimetric (DSC), diffraction (PXRD, SCXRD) and microscopy techniques (SEM, TEM).