Christer Aakeröy, PhD

Department: Chemistry
aakeroy@ksu.edu
Departmental Website

The efficiency of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), including any anti-cancer drug, is determined by a combination of its biological, chemical and physical properties, many of which can be altered by changing the characteristics of the bulk material that houses the API. The actual therapeutic effect of any drug is determined by its solubility and other factors which depend on the environment provided by the material used to deliver that drug. We are developing strategies that enable the formation of co-crystals of API’s using a variety of predesigned, inexpensive, and readily available small molecules. This may provide versatile methods for making subtle changes to bulk physical properties (e.g. solubility, hygroscopicity, and thermal stability) without tampering with the bioactivity of the compound at the molecular level.