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Many analytical techniques, such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and Raman spectroscopy can be used to differentiate between crystalline polymorphs of the same chemical entity. While all of these techniques are routinely applied to off-line analysis of materials, Raman spectroscopy has the advantage over these other techniques in that Raman technology currently exists for in situ monitoring of the solid-phase behavior within a mixed suspension of liquid and solid. In this work, we present our results from an in situ Raman study, demonstrating the solvent-mediated polymorphic phase transformation of progesterone. In situ Raman analysis has shown that the appearance of Form I progesterone is always preceded by the formation of Form II progesterone. Phase transformation rates were found to increase monotonically as the temperature increases, which indicates that the polymorphic system is monotropic. Form I was found to be thermodynamically more stable than Form II, while Form II was found to be kinetically favored over Form I. The results from this study are consistent with Ostwald's law of stages and lead to an in-depth understanding of the polymorphic transformation process of progesterone. The in situ monitoring capabilities of Raman spectroscopy have allowed us to define the processing parameters required to control the morphology of crystalline progesterone.

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The temperature profile applied during batch cooling crystallization affects the supersaturation level, which in turn affects the crystal size distribution. It is possible, in principle, to calculate the optimal cooling profile; however, the nucleation and growth kinetics are rarely known to the degree of accuracy necessary for this calculation. The current study demonstrates an alternative approach to determination of the optimal cooling profile without any prior knowledge of kinetic data or subsequent modeling. An attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometer was used to monitor the supersaturation level during batch cooling crystallization. The ATR-FTIR was interfaced to a LABMAX automatic reactor system that was used in a feedback mode to control the cooling rate so that the supersaturation level remained close to the solubility throughout the cooling process. The resulting temperature profile corresponds to the optimal operating conditions for the maximum in the mean crystal size.

Succinic acid (SA) is an important platform molecule in the synthesis of a number of commodity and specialty chemicals. In the present work, dual-phase batch fermentations with the E. coli strain AFP184 were performed using a medium suited for large-scale industrial production of SA. The ability of the strain to ferment different sugars was investigated. The sugars studied were sucrose, glucose, fructose, xylose, and equal mixtures of glucose and fructose and glucose and xylose at a total initial sugar concentration of 100 g L-1. AFP184 was able to utilize all sugars and sugar combinations except sucrose for biomass generation and succinate production. For sucrose as a substrate no succinic acid was produced and none of the sucrose was metabolized. The succinic acid yield from glucose (0.83 g succinic acid per gram glucose consumed anaerobically) was higher than the yield from fructose (0.66 g g-1). When using xylose as a carbon source, a yield of 0.50 g g-1 was obtained. In the mixed-sugar fermentations no catabolite repression was detected. Mixtures of glucose and xylose resulted in higher yields (0.60 g g-1) than use of xylose alone. Fermenting glucose mixed with fructose gave a lower yield (0.58 g g-1) than fructose used as the sole carbon source. The reason is an increased pyruvate production. The pyruvate concentration decreased later in the fermentation. Final succinic acid concentrations were in the range of 25-40 g L-1. Acetic and pyruvic acid were the only other products detected and accumulated to concentrations of 2.7-6.7 and 0-2.7 g L-1. Production of succinic acid decreased when organic acid concentrations reached approximately 30 g L-1. This study demonstrates that E. coli strain AFP184 is able to produce succinic acid in a low cost medium from a variety of sugars with only small amounts of byproducts formed.

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