Pharmaceuticals: Development and formulation

X-ray diffraction plays a crucial role in many phases of drug design, discovery, development, and formulation. The most detailed knowledge on the atomic level of molecular structure and conformation and receptor-ligand interactions is derived from single crystal structure analysis at atomic or near atomic resolution [Giacovazzo et al. (1992)]. This information is used to probe the geometry and the interaction between drug receptor and the potentially active ligand. In addition, new lead molecules for drug development can be designed from the knowledge gained from such studies.