Grepioni, FabriziaDuarte, TeresaShemchuk, Oleksii2016-03-142016-03-142015-09-252015http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/7849Dissertação de mestrado, Inovação Quimica e Regulamentação, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015The issue of “Healthy Ageing” has become a significant challenge due to the continuous grow of World Population Ageing. Advancing health and well-being into old age and ensuring supportive environments is a main objective of NATO’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division [1]. Natural antioxidants such as L-carnosine and melatonin have been successfully used as geroprotectors. They reduce the risk of developing ageing-related diseases which is one the main aspects of healthy ageing. New formulation of the existing APIs is a widely used approach to optimize their physicochemical properties. Carnosine underwent reactions with a number of organic acids resulting in the discovery of seven new salts. The obtained salts were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and thermal analyses. The structures were determined using X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD). The carnosine salts with glycolic and succinic acids might be of higher interest since both components possess antioxidant activity and carnosine, when used as a nutraceutical is usually combined with other antioxidants. Thus, the new formulation of carnosine as a salt with an acid possessing antioxidant activity can enhance its biological activity. Melatonin was co-crystallized with a number of coformers from various chemical groups. Two new co-crystals of melatonin with DABCO and piperazine were obtained by using mechanochemical technique (kneading). The structure of melatonin-DABCO co-crystal was established from a single crystal obtained by recrystallization from dichloromethane. The structure of melatonin-piperazine was solved using XRPD. Though only one of the obtained co-crystals can find a direct application in Pharmaceutical industry (DABCO does not belong to the GRAS list), our results confirm the reactivity of melatonin in co-crystallization processes, and emphasizes the need to continue the search for an improved formulation.engAntioxidantesEngenharia dos cristaisL-carnosinaMelatoninamaster thesis