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Despite a tendency to undergo solution-mediated polymorphic transformation, the dissolution behaviour of the metastable FI (triclinic) polymorph of the pharmaceutical compound carbamazepine (CBZ) was investigated using in situ optical microscopy. Experiments were performed at an undersaturation where single crystals of the metastable FI polymorph dissolved. Dissolution in different solvents was investigated at a constant undersaturation. Separately the sublimation of FI was examined and additionally the dissolution was observed at undersaturations where the more stable FIII polymorph crystallized. The results show that both the dissolution and sublimation of FI occur primarily in the direction of the a-axis of the FI crystal structure where the CBZ molecules are found to stack in this direction. The order for the dissolution rate of FI was acetonitrile ≥ methanol > ethanol. The order of the dissolution rates in each …