A Review on Methods and Theories to Describe the Glass Transition Phenomenon: Applications in Food and Pharmaceutical Products

Given the complexity in composition and the various environmental conditions to which foods and pharmaceuticals are exposed during processing and storage, stability, functionality, and quality are key attributes that deserve careful attention. Quality and stability of foods and pharmaceuticals are mainly affected by environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and time, and for processing conditions (e. g., shear, pressure) under which they may undergo physical and chemical transformations. Glass transition is a key phenomenon which is useful to understand how external conditions affect physical changes on materials. Consequently, theories that predict and describe the glass transition phenomenon are of a great interest not only for the food industry but also it extends to the pharmaceutical and polymer industries. It is important to emphasize that the materials of relevance in these industries are interchangeably sharing similar issues on functionality and their association with the glass transition phenomenon. Development of new materials and understanding the physicochemical behavior of existing ones require a scientific foundation that translates into safe and high-quality foods, improved quality of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals with lower risk to patients, and functional efficacy of polymers used in food and medicinal products. This review addresses the glass transition phenomenon from a kinetics and thermodynamics standpoint by presenting existing models that are able to estimate the glass transition temperature. It also explores traditional and novel methods used for the characterization of the glass transition phenomenon.