BCA Spring Meeting 2002 University of Nottingham Monday 25 March to Thursday 28 March 2002

The structural complexity of many molecular systems offers the possibility of many different crystal structures of a single compound. This property of polymorphism and the associated phenomenon of structural transformation means that the structural study of these compounds, and the understanding of the relationship between different forms, can be challenging. This session will reflect the importance of undertaking structural studies across multiple polymorphs or structural variants in providing a complete understanding of the behaviour of such materials. Comprehensive structural characterisation in this area also has significant benefits for polymorph prediction and computer modelling which work best when an existing polymorph is already well characterised crystallographically. This area has important implications, for example, in developing new pharmaceutical compounds. The session will also reflect on the fact that in developing our understanding of structure-property relationships and phase transformations from one crystal form to another, a broad range of physical characterisation techniques are required in addition to crystallographic methods.

Speakers (with provisional titles) will include:

• Chris Frampton (Southampton)
• Stephen Tarling (Birkbeck) - Crystallography for the Rich
• Colin Pulham (Edinburgh) - Crystallographic and Spectroscopic Studies of New Phases of Simple Molecular Materials
• Mike Hursthouse (Southampton) - New Polymorphs and Solvates of Sulfathiazole, Sulfapyridine and Sulfanilamide: Implications for Structure {rediction
• Andy Jephcoat (Oxford) - High Pressure Raman Studies of Structural Changes