The ability to predict organic small molecule crystal structures is of considerable practical importance in the pharmaceutical industry for numerous reasons. For example, different crystal forms of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) can have significantly different physical properties, such as solubility and dissolution, as well as and crystal habit and size, leading to variations in ADME properties like oral bio-availability. Polymorphism in particular can be important during the manufacturing of APIs, due to the possibility of phase changes. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to predict the possible existence of alternate polymorphic forms up-front. Furthermore, crystal form in general can have serious intellectual property implications, thus making apparent the value in being able to identify and ultimately �engineer� a novel crystal form with desirable physical properties.

This talk will provide a brief literature overview of the current status of crystal structure prediction, focusing on several formal and informal �blind tests.� , , , Several topics will be addressed, including sampling of different crystal packings, the accuracy of intermolecular potentials, the ability to deal with flexible, pharmaceutically relevant molecules, and ultimately the practical value of small organic molecule crystal structure prediction at its current stage of development.