Graciela Díaz de Delgado
Laboratorio de Cristalografía-LNDRX, Departamento de Química,
Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes. Mérida, Venezuela
The Crystallography Laboratory at Universidad de Los Andes in Mérida, Venezuela, was founded 53 years ago by Prof. Eldrys Rodulfo de Gil. Over the years, we have carried out structural studies on a variety of materials of our interest as well as studies in collaboration with other laboratories at our University, other Universities and Research Centers in Venezuela and Laboratories abroad. The compounds studied include natural products isolated from plants of the Venezuelan Andes, extensively used in folk medicine for the treatment of a variety of ailments. Since more than a decade, we have dedicated efforts to characterize Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and commercial formulations of common use in our country. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (such as diclofenac, mefenamic acid, flunixin), antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, erythromycin), antifungals (fluconazole, clotrimazole), anticonvulsive (gabapentin, valproic acid), as well as mineral supplements, are among the materials studied. Polymorphism, hydration/dehydration, decomposition, solid state reactions, among other phenomena, have been explored in these materials and some examples will be discussed in this presentation.