Crystalline Polymorphism of Organic Compounds

A Coformer Approach for Supramolecular Polymerization at High Concentrations

Insolubility of functional molecules caused by polymorphism sometimes poses limitations for their solution-based processing. Such a situation can also occur in the preparation processes of supramolecular polymers formed in a solution. An effective strategy to address this issue is to prepare amorphous solid states by introducing a "coformer" molecule capable of inhibiting the formation of an insoluble polymorph through co-aggregation. Herein, inspired by the coformer approach, we demonstrated a solubility enhancement of a barbiturate π-conjugated compound that can supramolecularly polymerize through six-membered hydrogen-bonded rosettes. Our newly synthesized supramolecular coformer molecule features a sterically demanding methyl group in the π-conjugated unit of the parent molecule. Although the parent molecule exhibits low solubility in nonpolar solvents due to the formation of a crystalline polymorph comprising a tape-like hydrogen-bonded array prior to the supramolecular polymerization, mixing with the coformer compound enhanced the solubility by inhibiting mesoscopic organization of the tapes. The two monomers were then co-polymerized into desired helicoidal supramolecular polymers through the formation of heteromeric rosettes.

Polymorphs with Remarkably Distinct Physical and/or Chemical Properties

Polymorphism in crystals is known since 1822 and the credit goes to Mitscherlich who realized the existence of different crystal structures of the same compound while working with some arsenate and phosphate salts. Later on, this phenomenon was observed also in organic crystals. With the advent of different technologies, especially the easy availability of single crystal XRD instruments, polymorphism in crystals has become a common phenomenon. Almost 37 % of compounds (single component) are polymorphic to date. As the energies of the different polymorphic forms are very close to each other, small changes in crystallization conditions might lead to different polymorphic structures. As a result, sometimes it is difficult to control polymorphism. For this reason, it is considered to be a nuisance to crystal engineering. It has been realized that the property of a material depends not only on the molecular structure but also on its crystal structure. Therefore, it is not only of interest to academia but also has widespread applications in the materials science as well as pharmaceutical industries. In this review, we have discussed polymorphism which causes significant changes in materials properties in different fields of solid-state science, such as electrical, magnetic, SHG, thermal expansion, mechanical, luminescence, color, and pharmaceutical. Therefore, this review will interest researchers from supramolecular chemistry, materials science as well as medicinal chemistry.

Understanding the Multidimensional Effects of Polymorphism, Particle Size and Processing for D-Mannitol Powders

The relevance of the polymorphic form, particle size, and processing of mannitol for the mechanical properties of solid oral dosage forms was examined. Thus, particle and powder properties of spray granulated β D-mannitol, β D-mannitol, and δ D-mannitol were assessed in this study with regards to their manufacturability. D-mannitol is a commonly used excipient in pharmaceutical formulations, especially in oral solid dosage forms, and can be crystallized as three polymorphic forms, of which β is the thermodynamically most stable form and δ is a kinetically stabilized polymorph. A systematic analysis of the powders as starting materials and their respective roller compacted granules is presented to elucidate the multidimensional effects of powder and granules characteristics such as polymorphic form, particle size, and preprocessing on the resulting tablets’ mechanical properties. In direct compression and after roller compaction, δ polymorph displayed superior tableting properties over β mannitol, but was outperformed by spray granulated β mannitol. This could be primarily correlated to the higher specific surface area, leading to higher bonding area and more interparticle bonds within the tablet. Hence, it was shown that surface characteristics and preprocessing can prevail over the impact of polymorphism on manufacturability for oral solid dosage forms.

Luminescent polymorphic crystals: mechanoresponsive and multicolor-emissive properties

Polymorphic organic crystals that can switch their photophysical properties in response to mechanical stimuli are highlighted.

Thermotriggered Domino-like Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal Phase Transition from Face-to-Edge to Face-to-Face Packing of Anthracenes

Stimuli-triggered crystal-to-crystal and single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) transformations have received significant attention in the scientific community. To visualize such phenomenon, controlling the optical properties and the thermodynamic stability of the molecular crystals is a very important research subject. In this report, the selective growth of photoluminescent (PL) 1,8-bisphenylanthracene polymorphic (cI and cII) and 1,2-dichloroethane-inclusion crystals (iC) under various optimized conditions is described. These crystals exhibited unique mechano- and thermoresponsive disordering, crystal-to-crystal phase transition, and SCSC phase transition. In particular, rapid thermostimulus SCSC occurred from blue-PL cI into greenish-blue-PL cII. Interestingly, the SCSC phase transition of cI into cII was triggered by thermal stimuli and propagated spontaneously. Thermotriggered domino-like SCSC phase transition was observed on a fully visible timescale (ca. 125 μm min^-1 ).

Multi-color mechanochromic luminescence of three polymorphic crystals of a donor–acceptor-type benzothiadiazole derivative

The three polymorphic crystals of a donor–acceptor dye exhibited different luminescence colors, which changed in response to mechanical grinding.

Predicting Density of Amorphous Solid Materials Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The true density of an amorphous solid is an important parameter for studying and modeling materials behavior. Experimental measurements of density using helium pycnometry are standard but may be prevented if the material is prone to rapid recrystallization, or preparation of gram quantities of reproducible pure component amorphous materials proves impossible. The density of an amorphous solid can be approximated by assuming it to be 95% of its respective crystallographic density; however, this can be inaccurate or impossible if the crystal structure is unknown. Molecular dynamic simulations were used to predict the density of 20 amorphous solid materials. The calculated density values for 10 amorphous solids were compared with densities that were experimentally determined using helium pycnometry. In these cases, the amorphous densities calculated using molecular dynamics had an average percent error of - 0.7% relative to the measured values, with a maximum error of - 3.48%. In contrast, comparisons of amorphous density approximated from crystallographic structures with pycnometrically measured values resulted in an average percent error of + 3.7%, with a maximum error of + 9.42%. These data suggest that the density of an amorphous solid can be accurately predicted using molecular dynamic simulations and allowed reliable calculation of density for the remaining 10 materials for which pycnometry could not be done.

Smart control of calixarene polymorphic states

Solid calixarene is switched to the stable and metastable polymorphs by exposure to guest vapors in binary and ternary systems.

Characterization of amylose and amylopectin fractions separated from potato, banana, corn, and cassava starches

Analytical techniques such HPSEC, DSC, and TGA have been employed for amylose determination in starch samples, though spectrophotometry by iodine binding is most commonly used. The vast majority of these techniques require an analytical curve, using amylose and amylopectin standards with physicochemical properties similar to those found in the original starch. The current study aimed to obtain the amylose and amylopectin fractions from potato, banana, corn, and cassava starches, characterize them, and evaluate their behavior via thermogravimetric curves. Blue amylose iodine complex and HPSEC-DRI methods have obtained high purity amylose and amylopectin fractions. All molecular weights of the obtained amylose and amylopectin fractions were similar to those presented in other reports. Different results were obtained by deconvolution of the amylopectin polymodal distribution. All amyloses presented as semi-crystalline V-type polymorphs, while all amylopectin fractions were amorphous. The T_g of all V_amyloses presented were directly proportional to their respective crystalline index. TGA evaluations have shown that selective precipitation of amylose with 1-butanol strongly changes its thermal behavior. Therefore, the separation procedure used was an ineffective pathway for obtaining standards for thermal studies.

Polarized absorbance and Davydov splitting in bulk and thin-film pentacene polymorphs

Pentacene is one of the most studied organic materials and in particular its optical properties have been the subject of intense research during the last two decades. In spite of such a widespread interest and of the extensive knowledge achieved so far, a number of issues are still debated. One of the most relevant questions concerns the role of polymorphism and how it affects the lowest-energy exciton, which appears in the visible region and is subject to a sizable Davydov splitting. We address this problem in a combined theoretical and experimental work, where the optical absorption properties of three pentacene polymorphs are investigated within the whole energy range of visible light. Optical spectra computed from first principles in the framework of many-body perturbation theory are directly compared with the polarization-resolved absorbance, measured for three different pentacene phases (the two bulk polymorphs and the thin-film phase). In this way, we unambiguously identify the two Davydov components of the first exciton and the optical fingerprints of each considered phase. With very good agreement between theory and experiment, we show that all polymorphs exhibit common features at the absorption onset, while phase-dependent characteristics appear only above 2 eV. We discuss the character of the lowest-lying singlet and triplet excitons, including dark ones, highlighting the contributions from the electronic bands and the role of the electron-hole interaction and of the local-field effects.

Polymorphism in some new bis-hydrazone compounds

We describe the polymorphism of four new bis-hydrazone compounds, namely butane-2,3-dione 2,3-bis{[bis(4-fluorophenyl)methylidene]hydrazone}, C₃₀H₂₂F₄N₄ (1), butane-2,3-dione 2,3-bis{[bis(4-chlorophenyl)methylidene]hydrazone}, C₃₀H₂₂Cl₄N₄ (2), butane-2,3-dione 2,3-bis{[bis(4-methylphenyl)methylidene]hydrazone}, C₃₄H₃₄N₄ (3), and butane-2,3-dione 2,3-bis({bis[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]methylidene}hydrazone), C₃₈H₄₆N₈ (4), derived by the condensation reaction between substituted benzophenone hydrazone and butane-2,3-dione. Concomitant polymorphism has been observed in 1, 2 and 3. Overlays of molecules of the different polymorphs indicate that there is conformational adjustment in the crystal structures of the polymorphs of 1 and 2, i.e. packing polymorphism, which was confirmed by a computational study. On the other hand, conformational change was observed in the cases of the polymorphs of compounds 3 and 4, i.e. conformational polymorphism.

Polymorphism in α-sexithiophene crystals: relative stability and transition path

We theoretically and experimentally determine the relative stability between sexithiophene crystal polymorphs, and estimate the transition barrier between them.

35Cl solid-state NMR spectroscopy of HCl pharmaceuticals and their polymorphs in bulk and dosage forms

Herein, we demonstrate the use of 35Cl SSNMR for the structural fingerprinting of HCl salts of pharmaceuticals in both bulk and dosage forms.

35Cl dynamic nuclear polarization solid-state NMR of active pharmaceutical ingredients

In this work, we show how to obtain efficient dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhanced ³⁵Cl solid-state NMR (SSNMR) spectra at 9.4 T and demonstrate how they can be used to characterize the molecular-level structure of hydrochloride salts of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in both bulk and low wt% API dosage forms.

Polymorph Impact on the Bioavailability and Stability of Poorly Soluble Drugs

Drugs with low water solubility are predisposed to poor and variable oral bioavailability and, therefore, to variability in clinical response, that might be overcome through an appropriate formulation of the drug. Polymorphs (anhydrous and solvate/hydrate forms) may resolve these bioavailability problems, but they can be a challenge to ensure physicochemical stability for the entire shelf life of the drug product. Since clinical failures of polymorph drugs have not been uncommon, and some of them have been entirely unexpected, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) has required preliminary and exhaustive screening studies to identify and characterize all the polymorph crystal forms for each drug. In the past, the polymorphism of many drugs was detected fortuitously or through manual time consuming methods; today, drug crystal engineering, in particular, combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening, makes it possible to easily and exhaustively identify stable polymorphic and/or hydrate/dehydrate forms of poorly soluble drugs, in order to overcome bioavailability related problems or clinical failures. This review describes the concepts involved, provides examples of drugs characterized by poor solubility for which polymorphism has proven important, outlines the state-of-the-art technologies and discusses the pertinent regulations.

Solvent-mediated phase transformation between two tegafur polymorphs in several solvents

Here we show that the solvent-mediated polymorphic transformation rate depends linearly on the difference between equilibrium solubilities of tegafur polymorphs.

NCImilano: an electron-density-based code for the study of noncovalent interactions

NCImilano, a Fortran90 code for applying the reduced density gradient (RDG) descriptor to a real-space study of noncovalent interactions, is presented. This code has been specifically designed for the X-ray charge density community, as it can deal with both gas-phase and solid-state electron densities as evaluated by popular multipolar (XD2006) and Gaussian-based quantum mechanical (Gaussian03/09,CRYSTAL) computational platforms. Moreover, it implements for the first time the possibility of plotting energy densities over RDG isosurfaces.

Stepwise ordering of imidazolium-based cationic surfactants during cooling-induced crystallization

Surfactants bearing imidazolium cations represent a new class of building blocks in molecular self-assembly. These imidazolium-based cationic surfactants can exhibit various morphologies during phase transformations. In this work, we studied the self-assembly and phase behavior of 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (C(16)mimCl) aqueous dispersions (0.5-10 wt %) by using isothermal titration calorimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, synchrotron small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering, freeze-fracture electron microscopy, optical microscopy, electrical conductance, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It was found that C(16)mimCl in aqueous solutions can form two different crystalline phases. At higher C(16)mimCl concentrations (>6 wt %), the initial spherical micelles convert directly to the stable crystalline phase upon cooling. At lower concentrations (0.5 or 1 wt %), the micelles first convert to a metastable crystalline phase upon cooling and then transform to the stable crystalline phase upon further incubation at low temperature. The electrical conductance measurement reveals that the two crystalline phases have similar surface charge densities and surface curvatures. Besides, the microscopic and spectroscopic investigations of the two crystalline phases suggest that the metastable crystalline phase has preassembled morphology and a preordered submolecular packing state that contribute to the final stable crystalline structure. The formation of a preordered structure prior to the final crystalline state deepens our understanding of the crystallization mechanisms of common surfactants and amphiphilic ionic liquids and should thus be widely recognized and explored.

Conformational polymorphism in bicalutamide

Two crystalline forms (forms I and II) and an amorphous phase of bicalutamide were fully characterized through combined results of differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder and single crystal diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Each polymorph crystallizes with one molecule in the asymmetric unit and the molecular conformations are quite different between them. The main difference is provided by C12-C11-S8-C5 torsion angle, which assumes a value of -88.3(4) degrees (-Syn-Clinal) and 72.5(4) degrees (+Syn-Clinal) in forms I and II, respectively. Consequently, molecules in form I show an open folding and molecules in form II a closed one. The relative stability between forms I and II is presented in an energy versus temperature diagram, where forms I and II are considered as a monotropic system, being form I the more stable one. The amorphous phase was observed very metastable and it converts to form II spontaneously at RT in around a week.

Polymorphism on Leflunomide: Stability and Crystal Structures

Two polymorphs of Leflunomide were found and studied (form I and II). Both of them were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and thermal analysis. Single crystals were obtained and both structures were solved. Forms I and II crystallize in the space group P2(1)/c with two and one independent molecules per asymmetric unit, respectively. Thermodynamic stability of the two forms is assessed by differential scanning calorimetry. The cohesion in the crystal of form I (the more stable) is provided by both by H bonding as well as pi...pi interactions, while in form II it is given only by the former. The independent molecules in form I adopt different conformations thus allowing for a larger number of intermolecular interactions.

Altering the polymorphic product distribution in a solid-state dehydration process by rapid sample rotation in a solid-state NMR probe

There is currently considerable interest in the phenomenon of polymorphism in organic molecular solids, and a key issue in this field is to understand the experimental techniques and procedures that may be employed to obtain new polymorphic forms of a given molecule. This paper demonstrates that the polymorphic form of a material (sodium acetate) obtained by a solid-state dehydration process (starting from sodium acetate trihydrate) can be altered by carrying out the dehydration process under conditions of rapid (several kilohertz) sample rotation in a solid-state magic-angle-spinning NMR probe. This observation suggests a new opportunity to influence the outcome of solid-state dehydration/desolvation processes and, in particular, to alter the polymorphic form of the product obtained.

Probing Structure in the Polymorphic Domain of the l-Enantiomer of N-Benzoyl-Phenylalanine by Means of 2D Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations

A study of polymorphism using a range of solid-state NMR techniques is presented. We demonstrate the existence of at least six polymorphs in a sample of N-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine. We also present methodology for the characterization of the protonation state, hydrogen bonding, and molecular conformation for the polymorphs, together with results of such a characterization for one of the polymorphs present in our sample. DFT modeling is used to investigate the separate effects hydrogen bonding and molecular conformation have on the chemical shift tensor.

Solid-state NMR in drug design and discovery for membrane-embedded targets

Observing drugs and ligands at their site of action in membrane proteins is now possible through the use of a development in biomolecular NMR spectroscopy known as solid-state NMR. Even large, functionally active complexes are being examined using this method, with structural details being resolved at super-high subnanometre resolution. This is supplemented by detailed dynamic and electronic information about the surrounding ligand environment, and gives surprising new insights into the way in which ligands bind, which can aid drug design.

Making crystals from crystals: a green route to crystal engineering and polymorphism

Supramolecular reactions between crystalline materials as well as reactions between a crystalline material and a vapour can be used to generate new crystalline substances. These solvent-free processes can be exploited to prepare both hydrogen-bonded co-crystals and coordination networks. Solid-vapour reactions do not differ from solid-vapour uptake/release processes, and can also be used to prepare polymorphs and solvates. It is argued that solvent-less reactions involving molecular crystals represent a green route to supramolecular solid-state chemistry and crystal engineering.

Determinations of ephedrine in mixtures of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine using diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy

There are a number of situations where there is a need to determine the concentrations of components in solid-state mixtures without dissolving the sample. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) coupled with partial-least-squares (PLS) data analysis has been used to determine the minor component in a mixture of structurally similar solid-state compounds, in this case mixtures of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Factors that limit the precision and accuracy of the determinations are discussed. It is shown that when care is taken to produce homogeneous calibration samples very good results can be obtained, in this case cross-validated standard error of predictions of 0.74 wt% when the minor component spanned the concentration range of 0-50 wt%, and 0.11 wt% when the minor component spanned the concentration range of 0-5 wt%. Results are presented that indicate that the amount of data available to the PLS calibration routine relative to the range over which the calibration is performed can limit the precision and accuracy of the determinations.

Defect-Induced Acceleration of a Solid-State Chemical Reaction in Zinc Alkoxide Single Crystals

A family of dinuclear (salicylaldimato)zinc(micro(2)-alkoxide) complexes show unusual behavior, decomposing to olefins and the corresponding micro(2)-hydroxide complexes under very mild conditions in the solid state. The reaction in homogeneous solution is, on the other hand, not observable, even at elevated temperatures over extended periods of time. The reaction in the solid state occurs preferentially on one crystallographic face and displays kinetics characteristic of polymorphic transformations in single crystals.