Selective formation of form II paracetamol through the assistance of paracetamol co-crystals as templates in a solution

The arrangement of paracetamol templated by the structure of 1 : 1 co-crystal of paracetamol–maleic acid in solution phase facilitating the nucleation of metastable form II paracetamol.

Engineering short, strong hydrogen bonds in urea di-carboxylic acid complexes

The persistence of the acid⋯amide heterodimer and the effect of methyl substitution on the short strong O–H⋯O hydrogen bond is investigated in urea and methylurea di-carboxylic acid molecular complexes. Temperature dependent structural changes are also reported utilising X-ray and neutron diffraction in tandem.

Polymorphs and polymorphic cocrystals of temozolomide

Crystal polymorphism in the antitumor drug temozolomide (TMZ), cocrystals of TMZ with 4,4'-bipyridine-N,N'-dioxide (BPNO), and solid-state stability were studied. Apart from a known X-ray crystal structure of TMZ (form 1), two new crystalline modifications, forms 2 and 3, were obtained during attempted cocrystallization with carbamazepine and 3-hydroxypyridine-N-oxide. Conformers A and B of the drug molecule are stabilized by intramolecular amide N--HN(imidazole) and N--HN(tetrazine) interactions. The stable conformer A is present in forms 1 and 2, whereas both conformers crystallized in form 3. Preparation of polymorphic cocrystals I and II (TMZBPNO 1:0.5 and 2:1) were optimized by using solution crystallization and grinding methods. The metastable nature of polymorph 2 and cocrystal II is ascribed to unused hydrogen-bond donors/acceptors in the crystal structure. The intramolecularly bonded amide N-H donor in the less stable structure makes additional intermolecular bonds with the tetrazine C==O group and the imidazole N atom in stable polymorph 1 and cocrystal I, respectively. All available hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors are used to make intermolecular hydrogen bonds in the stable crystalline form. Synthon polymorphism and crystal stability are discussed in terms of hydrogen-bond reorganization.

Crystal polymorphism of pharmaceuticals: probing crystal nucleation at the molecular level

Paracetamol, sulfathiazole and L-glutamic acid are presented as examples of pharmaceutical crystal polymorphic systems. The effect of N-acylated sulfathiazole derivatives (3-6) on sulfathiazole crystallisation is discussed, and possible modes of action presented. Methods for the control of the crystal polymorphism of L-glutamic acid which utilise the principles of conformation mimicry and co-operative binding are presented. The preparation of a series of bis-amides of EDTA derived from sulfathiazole, 5-aminoisophthalic acid and 4-hydroxyaniline (i.e. compounds 9a-c) is presented, as is data on the effect of these compounds on the crystallisation of, respectively, sulfathiazole, L-glutamic acid and paracetamol.