Direct crystal to glass transformation of trehalose induced by ball milling

Structural and thermodynamic changes in the organic molecular crystal of trehalose upon high energy ball milling have been studied. The investigations have been performed by X-ray diffraction and by differential scanning calorimetry. The results show that mechanical milling induces a direct transformation from crystal to glass. It is underlined that glassy amorphous trehalose can also be produced by two other independent routes: the thermal quench of the liquid state and the dehydration of the dihydrate form of trehalose. This makes trehalose a promising molecular crystal for the fundamental study of the solid state amorphization processes themselves.