Visualising Early-Stage Liquid Phase Organic Crystal Growth via Liquid Cell Electron Microscopy

Here, we show that the development of nuclei and subsequent growth of a molecular organic crystal system can be induced by electron beam irradiation by exploiting the radiation chemistry of the carrier solvent. The technique of Liquid Cell Electron Micorscopy was used to probe the crystal growth of flufenamic aicd; a current commercialised active pharmaceuticl ingredient. This work demonstrates liquid phase electron microscopy analysis as an essential tool for assessing pharmaceutical crystal growth while giving insight into polymorph identification. Possible mechanisms of crystal nucleation involving radiolysis is discussed along with the innovations this techniques offers to the study of pharmaceutical crystals and other low contrast materials.