- Email: [email protected]
David James William Grant, M. A., D. Phil., D. Sc. (1937–2005)
Editorial
David James William Grant, M.A., D.Phil., D.Sc. (1937–2005)
Received 7 February 2007; accepted 7 February 2007 Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jps.20952
David J.W. Grant was the William and Mildred Peters Endowed Professor in Pharmaceutics at the College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota. For over 40 years, Professor Grant was an active researcher and had been globally recognized for his expertize and contributions in several research areas, notably in the field of pharmaceutical materials science. While taking a rigorous thermodynamic approach, he applied state-of-theart analytical techniques in materials science to solve problems of immense interest and impor-
Correspondence to: Raj Suryanarayanan (Telephone: 6126249626; Fax: 6126262125; E-mail: [email protected]) Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 96, 945–947 (2007) ß 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association
tance to the pharmaceutical community. He was also a passionate educator and mentored numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Professor Grant had served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences for over 11 years. This special issue of the journal is in recognition of Professor Grant’s outstanding contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences, and also to celebrate the work of this outstanding teacher and mentor. David Grant obtained his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, England in 1961. His doctoral dissertation work was completed in 1963 under the tutelage of Sir Cyril Hinshelwood (Nobel Laureate), also in the Chemistry Department at the University of Oxford, and his first publication dealt with the effect of
JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, VOL. 96, NO. 5, MAY 2007
945
946
SURYANARAYANAN AND CHOW
cellular disruption on the activities of some typical enzymes.1 Dr. Grant began his academic career in the Fourah Bay College, University College of Sierra Leone. The field of pharmacy was fortunate when Professor Grant joined the Department of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, as lecturer in 1965. He stayed there until 1981 when he moved to the University of Toronto, Canada, to assume his new appointment as Professor of Physical Pharmacy. In 1988, he was appointed as endowed chair in the Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota, a position he held until his death. Professor Grant served as the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (1984– 1987) at the University of Toronto, and he was also the Head of the Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota from 1988 to 1991. Professor Grant began his research career by studying bacterial metabolism and its interaction with drug molecules. Until 1976, he examined the metabolic role of environmental bacteria in degrading chemicals, carcinogens and pharmaceuticals. His accomplishments in this field have impacted environmental studies and have shown the value and limitations of microorganisms in degrading noxious chemicals and carcinogens in the environment. From 1974 onwards, Professor Grant applied the principles of physical chemistry to probe the relationships between the crystal structures and properties of solid pharmaceuticals, as part of formulation and preformulation strategies for the optimization of pharmaceutical products. He studied the influence of hydrodynamics on the dissolution rate of solids and the wetting of hydrophobic powders, and provided detailed insight into the phase equilibria, thermodynamics, and kinetics of dispersion systems and suppositories. His work elegantly demonstrated how impurities/additives and associated crystal defects modify the thermodynamics and physical properties of crystalline drugs. At the University of Minnesota, Professor Grant worked extensively on the structural, thermodynamic, and physical properties of pharmaceutical solvates and hydrates. Examples include dialkylhydroxypyridone iron chelators, the sodium and divalent metal salts of nedocromil, aspartame hydrates, and neotame solvates. Using sulfamerazine as an example, Professor Grant’s group has elucidated the structural factors and intermolecular interactions that control the crystallization of specific polymorphs from solvents and the effect of synthetic impurities on this process. This work
throws light on polymorph screening, an essential preformulation step in the pharmaceutical industry, and on the advisability of repeating the screening process when the drug has been purified. Because many drugs, especially newer chemical entities, have chiral centers, chirality has become a key issue in the formulation of solid dosage forms. David Grant’s group investigated the influence of chiral purity on solid-state properties and the thermodynamic and structural factors that distinguish different types of racemic species, with the aid of molecular modeling. Professor Grant and his collaborators have also made major contributions to formulation design. They elucidated the key structural features, such as slip planes, hydrogen bonds, and crystal defects, which determine the compaction properties of crystalline drugs, stereoselective dissolution of chiral drugs from polymeric matrices, drug release from capsules, and polymeric beads, as well as characterization of solid dispersions. David Grant’s studies of the kinetics of solidstate transformation are leading to a new modelfree approach that is likely to be widely used in the industry. In recognition of his research contributions, Professor David Grant received numerous awards including: Doctor of Science degree from Faculty of Physical Sciences, Oxford University, UK; Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC); Pharmaceutics Award in Excellence from the PhRMA Foundation; Award of the European Society for Applied Physical Chemistry and the AAPS Dale E. Wurster Award in Pharmaceutics. Last year, Professor Grant and his coauthors were the recipients of the Ebert Prize, in recognition of their outstanding research paper dealing with the dehydration kinetics of piroxicam monohydrate.2 Professor Grant was a caring teacher and mentor and guided the research of over 55 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He authored over 200 research papers and book chapters. His book (coauthor: Professor Takeru Higuchi), ‘‘Solubility Behavior of Organic Compounds’’ is considered a classic. His passion and enthusiasm for science were infectious and unmatched. His contributions have significantly elevated the field of pharmaceutics and he has left behind an impressive body of scientific work. His research findings and his writings will be of
JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, VOL. 96, NO. 5, MAY 2007
DOI 10.1002/jps
EDITORIAL
immense value to the scientific community and will guide us for many years to come.
Raj Suryanarayanan College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota Albert H.L. Chow The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong
DOI 10.1002/jps
947
REFERENCES 1. Grant DJW, Hinshelwood C. 1964. Studies of the enzyme activity of Bact. Lactis aerogenes (Aerobacter aerogenes). I. The effects of cellular disruption on the activities of some typical enzymes. Proc Roy Soc B 160:25–41. 2. Sheth AR, Zhou D, Muller FX, Grant DJW. 2006. Dehydration kinetics of piroxicam monohydrate and relationship to lattice energy and structure. J Pharm Sci 93:3013–3026.
JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, VOL. 96, NO. 5, MAY 2007
David James William Grant, M.A., D.Phil., D.Sc. (1937–2005)
Received 7 February 2007; accepted 7 February 2007 Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jps.20952
David J.W. Grant was the William and Mildred Peters Endowed Professor in Pharmaceutics at the College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota. For over 40 years, Professor Grant was an active researcher and had been globally recognized for his expertize and contributions in several research areas, notably in the field of pharmaceutical materials science. While taking a rigorous thermodynamic approach, he applied state-of-theart analytical techniques in materials science to solve problems of immense interest and impor-
Correspondence to: Raj Suryanarayanan (Telephone: 6126249626; Fax: 6126262125; E-mail: [email protected]) Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 96, 945–947 (2007) ß 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association
tance to the pharmaceutical community. He was also a passionate educator and mentored numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Professor Grant had served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences for over 11 years. This special issue of the journal is in recognition of Professor Grant’s outstanding contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences, and also to celebrate the work of this outstanding teacher and mentor. David Grant obtained his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, England in 1961. His doctoral dissertation work was completed in 1963 under the tutelage of Sir Cyril Hinshelwood (Nobel Laureate), also in the Chemistry Department at the University of Oxford, and his first publication dealt with the effect of
JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, VOL. 96, NO. 5, MAY 2007
945
946
SURYANARAYANAN AND CHOW
cellular disruption on the activities of some typical enzymes.1 Dr. Grant began his academic career in the Fourah Bay College, University College of Sierra Leone. The field of pharmacy was fortunate when Professor Grant joined the Department of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, as lecturer in 1965. He stayed there until 1981 when he moved to the University of Toronto, Canada, to assume his new appointment as Professor of Physical Pharmacy. In 1988, he was appointed as endowed chair in the Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota, a position he held until his death. Professor Grant served as the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (1984– 1987) at the University of Toronto, and he was also the Head of the Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota from 1988 to 1991. Professor Grant began his research career by studying bacterial metabolism and its interaction with drug molecules. Until 1976, he examined the metabolic role of environmental bacteria in degrading chemicals, carcinogens and pharmaceuticals. His accomplishments in this field have impacted environmental studies and have shown the value and limitations of microorganisms in degrading noxious chemicals and carcinogens in the environment. From 1974 onwards, Professor Grant applied the principles of physical chemistry to probe the relationships between the crystal structures and properties of solid pharmaceuticals, as part of formulation and preformulation strategies for the optimization of pharmaceutical products. He studied the influence of hydrodynamics on the dissolution rate of solids and the wetting of hydrophobic powders, and provided detailed insight into the phase equilibria, thermodynamics, and kinetics of dispersion systems and suppositories. His work elegantly demonstrated how impurities/additives and associated crystal defects modify the thermodynamics and physical properties of crystalline drugs. At the University of Minnesota, Professor Grant worked extensively on the structural, thermodynamic, and physical properties of pharmaceutical solvates and hydrates. Examples include dialkylhydroxypyridone iron chelators, the sodium and divalent metal salts of nedocromil, aspartame hydrates, and neotame solvates. Using sulfamerazine as an example, Professor Grant’s group has elucidated the structural factors and intermolecular interactions that control the crystallization of specific polymorphs from solvents and the effect of synthetic impurities on this process. This work
throws light on polymorph screening, an essential preformulation step in the pharmaceutical industry, and on the advisability of repeating the screening process when the drug has been purified. Because many drugs, especially newer chemical entities, have chiral centers, chirality has become a key issue in the formulation of solid dosage forms. David Grant’s group investigated the influence of chiral purity on solid-state properties and the thermodynamic and structural factors that distinguish different types of racemic species, with the aid of molecular modeling. Professor Grant and his collaborators have also made major contributions to formulation design. They elucidated the key structural features, such as slip planes, hydrogen bonds, and crystal defects, which determine the compaction properties of crystalline drugs, stereoselective dissolution of chiral drugs from polymeric matrices, drug release from capsules, and polymeric beads, as well as characterization of solid dispersions. David Grant’s studies of the kinetics of solidstate transformation are leading to a new modelfree approach that is likely to be widely used in the industry. In recognition of his research contributions, Professor David Grant received numerous awards including: Doctor of Science degree from Faculty of Physical Sciences, Oxford University, UK; Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC); Pharmaceutics Award in Excellence from the PhRMA Foundation; Award of the European Society for Applied Physical Chemistry and the AAPS Dale E. Wurster Award in Pharmaceutics. Last year, Professor Grant and his coauthors were the recipients of the Ebert Prize, in recognition of their outstanding research paper dealing with the dehydration kinetics of piroxicam monohydrate.2 Professor Grant was a caring teacher and mentor and guided the research of over 55 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He authored over 200 research papers and book chapters. His book (coauthor: Professor Takeru Higuchi), ‘‘Solubility Behavior of Organic Compounds’’ is considered a classic. His passion and enthusiasm for science were infectious and unmatched. His contributions have significantly elevated the field of pharmaceutics and he has left behind an impressive body of scientific work. His research findings and his writings will be of
JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, VOL. 96, NO. 5, MAY 2007
DOI 10.1002/jps
EDITORIAL
immense value to the scientific community and will guide us for many years to come.
Raj Suryanarayanan College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota Albert H.L. Chow The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong
DOI 10.1002/jps
947
REFERENCES 1. Grant DJW, Hinshelwood C. 1964. Studies of the enzyme activity of Bact. Lactis aerogenes (Aerobacter aerogenes). I. The effects of cellular disruption on the activities of some typical enzymes. Proc Roy Soc B 160:25–41. 2. Sheth AR, Zhou D, Muller FX, Grant DJW. 2006. Dehydration kinetics of piroxicam monohydrate and relationship to lattice energy and structure. J Pharm Sci 93:3013–3026.
JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, VOL. 96, NO. 5, MAY 2007