Disappearing Polymorph Chemistry Mystery

Chemists call it a disappearing polymorph when a chemical suddenly stops forming one crystal structure and begins forming another instead. In some cases, that shift seems to spread through labs and factories as microscopic seed crystals contaminate equipment, air, or materials and push future batches into the new form. The problem has hit pharmaceutical compounds especially hard, because a new polymorph can make the old version difficult, impractical, or uneconomical to produce. Scientists understand the basic seeding theory, but the full process can still look eerily contagious when the change spreads across the world.

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