In silico prediction of growth and dissolution rates for organic molecular crystals: A multiscale approach

Solution crystallization and dissolution are of fundamental importance to science and industry alike and are key processes in the production of many pharmaceutical products, special chemicals, and so forth. The ability to predict crystal growth and dissolution rates from theory and simulation alone would be of a great benefit to science and industry but is greatly hindered by the molecular nature of the phenomenon. To study crystal growth or dissolution one needs a multiscale simulation approach, in which molecular-level behavior is used to parametrize methods capable of simulating up to the microscale and beyond, where the theoretical results would be industrially relevant and easily comparable to experimental results. Here, we review the recent progress made by our group in the elaboration of such multiscale approach for the prediction of growth and dissolution rates for organic crystals on the basis of molecular structure only and highlight the challenges and future directions of methodic development.