Amorphous trehalose dihydrate by cryogenic milling

Abstract

Trehalose dihydrate is a safe, naturally occurring disaccharide used as a food ingredient and pharmaceutical excipient. It has been reported that room temperature milling does not lead to the formation of amorphous trehalose dihydrate. This paper reports the behaviour of trehalose dihydrate upon milling at cryogenic temperatures as studied by DSC, TGA, XRPD and Raman spectroscopy. We have demonstrated that the crystal to glass transformation for trehalose dihydrate is possible using cryogenic milling. This is the first reported example of cryogenic milling (a mild and widely applicable technique) applied to generating amorphous hydrates.