The experiment described herein is a three-part experiment
in which Instrumental Analysis students are given two
pharmaceutical compounds to characterize, one of which is
an anhydrous crystalline API and the other an excipient that
exists as a crystalline hydrate. Previous experiments reported in
the literature for Instrumental Analysis students involved
utilizing DSC and TGA to identify compounds based on
properties that have known transitions that have already
been well-characterized.11,12 The current experiment requires
students to perform some “investigative work” to determine the
nature of the thermal transitions that they originally observe by
DSC, and also incorporates thermal microscopy as a tool to aid
in the identification of thermal events.13 The exercise teaches
students that real world problem-solving most often requires an
analytical chemist to take a multifaceted approach using more
than one technique to gain a complete understanding of solid
state thermal properties.