EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
Overview
This multiday experiment has been performed in Instrumental
Analysis during three different semesters with class sizes
ranging from 10 to 12 students. The activity requires three
laboratory periods (3 h/period) in which each group of 3−4
students will characterize an active pharmaceutical ingredient
and an excipient. Students were provided the molecular weights
and formulas for the two compounds, told one is anhydrous and
the other hydrated, and charged with determining the nature of
thermal events observed by DSC. Qualitative information such
as whether the transitions are endothermic/exothermic, as well