Our research activity concerns the physical state of molecular materials composed of small molecules and/or biological molecules under various stresses: temperature, pressure, as well as grinding or dehydration. The overall objective is to analyse situations of metastability, the glassy state and phase transformations, and out-of-equilibrium evolutions induced by these stresses, particularly dynamic forcing. The investigated materials are often those used in the pharmaceutical and agri-food domains. Our work therefore has direct implications in the control of the formulation and the stability of these materials with direct consequences on their bioavailability. The means of investigation are experimental and numerical. The themes require cross-disciplinary investigations of structure (ordered or disordered), micro (nano) structure and dynamics (relaxations and vibrations). Real-time kinetic analyses during or after stresses are also a frequent mode of investigation specific to the research conducted.
General projects in progress
Some of the team's projects focus on the fundamental study of phase transformations: nucleation/growth & crystalline polymorphism, and the physics related to glass transition: dynamic heterogeneities, characterisation of glasses obtained by forcing, polyamorphism, glassy crystals and crystal/glass duality.
Specific projects in progress
- Forced molecular materials
Transformations induced by grinding, dehydration, application of high pressures
- Improvement of the stability of biological materials against denaturation and optimisation of manufacturing processes
Understanding the physical mechanisms involved in protein structural transformations, analysing the influence of the physical properties of existing and developing bioprotective excipients (disaccharides and polyols)
- Improving the properties (bioavailability, solubility, stability, release) of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) by manipulating their physical state
Design of multicomponent systems: co-crystals vs. co-amorphous compounds combining APIs and small molecules, amorphous solid dispersions (API – polymer), hybrid materials (API – mesoporous silica matrix – polymer coating)
Design of deep eutectic solvents
