Scientists have successfully developed a new technique to reliably grow crystals of organic soluble molecules from nanoscale droplets, unlocking the potential of accelerated new drug development.

Chemistry experts from Newcastle and Durham universities, working in collaboration with SPT Labtech, have grown the small crystals from nanoscale encapsulated droplets. Their innovative method, involving the use of inert oils to control evaporative solvent loss, has the potential to enhance the drug development pipeline.

Whilst crystallization of organic soluble molecules is a technique used by scientists all over the world, the ability to do so with such small quantities of analyte is ground-breaking.

Through the use of this new method, called Encapsulated Nanodroplet Crystallisation (ENaCt), the researchers have shown that hundreds of crystallization experiments can be set up within a few minutes. Each experiment involves a few micrograms of molecular analyte dissolved in a few nanolitres of organic solvent and is automated, allowing for rapid set up of hundreds of unique experiments with ease. Concentration of these nanodroplet experiments results in the growth of the desired high quality single crystals that are suitable for modern X-ray diffraction analysis.

Publishing their findings in the journal Chem, the team, led by Drs Hall and Probert, of Newcastle University, UK, successfully developed a new approach to molecular crystallization which allows access, within a few days, to high quality single crystals, whilst requiring only few milligrams of analyte.

We have developed a nanoscale crystallization technique for organic-soluble small molecules, using high-throughput liquid-handling robotics to undertake multiple crystallization experiments simultaneously with minimal sample requirements and high success rates.


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