The glass transition temperature (T
g) of a binary miscible mixture of molecular glasses, termed a coamorphous
glass, is often synergistically increased over that expected for an
athermal mixture due to the strong interactions between the two components.
This synergistic interaction is particularly important for the formulation
of coamorphous pharmaceuticals since the molecular interactions and
resulting T
g strongly impact stability
against crystallization, dissolution kinetics, and bioavailability.
Current models that describe the composition dependence of T
g for binary systems, including the Gordon–Taylor,
Fox, Kwei, and Braun–Kovacs equations, fail to describe the
behavior of coamorphous pharmaceuticals using parameters consistent
with experimental ΔC
P
and Δα. Here, we develop a robust thermodynamic
approach extending the Couchman and Karasz method through the use
of activity coefficient models, including the two-parameter Margules,
non-random-two-liquid (NRTL), and three-suffix Redlich–Kister
models. We find that the models, using experimental values of ΔC
P
and fitting parameters related
to the binary interactions, successfully describe observed synergistic
elevations and inflections in the T
g versus
composition response of coamorphous pharmaceuticals. Moreover, the
predictions from the NRTL model are improved when the association-NRTL
version of that model is used. Results are reported and discussed
for four different coamorphous systems: indomethacin–glibenclamide,
indomethacin–arginine, acetaminophen–indomethacin, and
fenretinide–cholic acid.