Polymorphs of 1,1-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)cyclohexane and multiple Z? crystal structures by melt and sublimation crystallization

Ritonavir Revisited: Melt Crystallization Can Easily Find the Late-Appearing Polymorph II and Unexpectedly Discover a New Polymorph III

Identification of a thermodynamically stable polymorph is an important step in the early stage of drug development. Ritonavir (RIT) is a well-known case where the most stable polymorph II emerged after being marketed, leading to a loss of $250 million. Herein, we report the findings that routine melt crystallization can reveal the late-appearing polymorph II of RIT at small supercooling, but the probability of nucleation is very low. The addition of 30-50% polyethylene glycol (PEG) promotes the crystallization of Form II as the only phase at low supercooling, making it easier to detect in polymorphism screening. During the course of our research, a new polymorph, denoted Form III, was unexpectedly discovered, crystallizing as the major phase from neat RIT melts. Single crystals of Form III were grown from melt microdroplets. Benefiting from the ability of synchrotron radiation to detect weak diffraction signals that cannot be accessible by a laboratory diffractometer, a reasonable structure of Form III was solved with slight disorder relative to thiazole groups (P1 space group and Z' = 4). The thermodynamic stability ranking of the three true polymorphs is Form II > Form I > Form III, as opposed to the order of solubility. The capacity to efficiently reveal rich polymorphs, especially the kinetically hindered polymorph, and rapidly grow single crystals of a new phase for structure determination together highlights the necessity of incorporating melt crystallization into routine methods for pharmaceutical polymorphism screening.

Solid-state stability of Z′ < 1 and Z′ = 2 polymorphs of N,N,N′,N′-tetrabenzylethylenediamine: a combined experimental and theoretical study

The reported polymorphism in a highly flexible ligand gives a structure that is considered as a “crystal on the way” belonging to a metastable phase.

Sublimation – a green route to new solid-state forms

Sublimation is an effective and ‘green’ method to prepare and identify new polymorphs, cocrystals, ionic cocrystals and molecular salts.

Variable stoichiometry cocrystals: occurrence and significance

Stoichiometric variation in organic cocrystals, their synthesis, structure elucidation and properties are discussed. Accountable reasons for the occurrence of such cocrystals are emphasised.

Oriented Crystallization on Organic Monolayers to Control Concomitant Polymorphism

Nucleation events and crystal growth can be guided by molecular recognition at interfaces through intermolecular interactions. The short-acting antimicrobial sulfa drug sulfathiazole is known for its concomitant crystallization, which has five known polymorphs, due to conformational flexibility and hydrogen-bond synthon variation. In its development stage of a drug the issue of concomitant crystallization needs to be addressed with respect to patent litigation, including legal actions to protect patents against infringement. A functional self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of organic thiol on a gold surface has been employed as an efficient approach to control concomitant nucleation of such flexible drugs. The crystallization on a SAM surface is mostly kinetically driven and often leads to the nucleation of novel metastable forms. Spectroscopic, thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction studies reveal that a previously unknown, sixth form of the drug nucleates on the designed SAM surface.

Separation or combination of non-covalently linked partners provides polymorphs of N-(aryl)-2-(propan-2-ylidene)hydrazine carbothioamides

Polymorphs of N-(2-methoxyphenyl)-2-(propan-2ylidene)hydrazine carbothioamide and N-(4-nitrophenyl)-2-(propan-2-ylidene)hydrazine carbothioamide differing in homomeric assemblies are described.

Evaluating the importance of fractional Z′ polymorphs in a trifluoromethylated N,N′-diphenyloxalamide derivative

A curious case of crystal dimorphism reveals an adjusted fractional number of molecules in their respective crystallographic asymmetric units.

Conformational variation of ligands in mercury halide complexes; high and low Z′ structures

Small changes in the ligand resulted in a conformational variation of L^Py to L^Pz which led to high and low Z′ structures in the corresponding metal complexes.

Polymorphism and molecular conformations of nicosulfuron: structure, properties and desolvation process

Nine solid forms of nicosulfuron were found for the first time and their structures and properties were studied in detail.

The first polymorph in the family of nucleobases: a second form of cytosine

A new polymorph of cytosine, C4H5N3O, is reported half a century after the report of its first known crystal structure [Barker & Marsh (1964).Acta Cryst.17, 1581–1587]. Cytosine thus provides the first polymorphic example in the category of parent nucleobases. The new form, denoted (Ib), was observed unexpectedly during an attempt to cocrystallize cytosine with catechol. Form (Ib) crystallizes in the orthorhombic centrosymmetric space groupPccnwith two molecules in the asymmetric unit. The previously known form, denoted (Ia), crystallizes in the orthorhombic noncentrosymmetric space groupP212121. The cytosine molecule is planar in both forms. Hydrogen-bonding interactions are also similar for both forms. Infinite one-dimensional ribbons composed of cytosine base-pair dimers inR22(8) arrangements are observed in both (Ia) and (Ib). However, the way that the ribbons are packed differs in (Ia) and (Ib). This appears to guide the centrosymmetricversusnoncentrosymmetric space-group selection through the formation of an inversion-related motif in polymorph (Ib) and a helical propagation in polymorph (Ia). A few selected polymorphic systems have been gathered from the Cambridge Structural Database to understand possible structural features responsible for achiral molecules adopting centro- and noncentrosymmetric space groups.

Combinatorial crystal synthesis of ternary solids based on 2-methylresorcinol

Cocrystallization experiments of 2-methylresorcinol with several N-bases were performed to identify selective and preferred crystallization routes in relevant structural landscapes.

Anomalous thermal expansion of an organic crystal--implications for elucidating the mechanism of an enantiotropic phase transformation

Two enantiotropic polymorphs of a dumbbell shaped molecule possess similar packing arrangements, in principle, but one of the polymorphs shows anomalously anisotropic thermal expansion while the other does not.

Conformational polymorphism in organic crystals

Polymorphs are different crystalline modifications of the same chemical substance. When different conformers of the same molecule occur in different crystal forms, the phenomenon is termed conformational polymorphism. Occasionally, more than one conformer is present in the same crystal structure. The influence of molecular conformation changes on the formation and stability of polymorphs is the focus of this Account. X-ray crystal structures of conformational polymorphs were analyzed to understand the interplay of intramolecular (conformer) and intermolecular (lattice) energy in the crystallization and stability of polymorphs. Polymorphic structures stabilized by strong O-H...O/N-H...O hydrogen bonds, weak C-H...O interactions, and close packing were considered. 4,4-Diphenyl-2,5-cyclohexadienone (1) and bis(p-tolyl) ketone p-tosylhydrazone (3) are prototypes of C-H...O and N-H...O hydrogen-bonded structures. Distance-angle scatter plots of O-H...O and C-H...O hydrogen bonds extracted from the Cambridge Structural Database indicate that polymorphs with a larger number of symmetry-independent molecules (high Z') generally have better interactions when compared with the polymorphs with lower Z' values, with the implication that these symmetry-independent molecules have different conformations. Since molecular conformer (E(conf)) and crystal lattice (U(latt)) energy differences are of the same magnitude in organic crystals (typically <5 kcal mol(-1)), situations wherein these two factors compensate or cancel one another are illustrative. Calculation of conformer and lattice energies using Gaussian 03 and Cerius(2) in 23 recently published polymorph sets shows that a strained conformer (higher E(conf)) is stabilized by stronger interactions or better crystal packing (lower U(latt)) in two-thirds of the cases, whereas there is no energy balance in the remaining structures. Organic molecules with flexible torsions and low-energy conformers have a greater likelihood of exhibiting polymorphism because (1) different conformations lead to new hydrogen-bonding and close-packing modes and (2) the tradeoff reduces the total energy difference between alternative crystal structures. As a test case, polymorph promiscuity in fuchsones (6) is related to the conformational diversity at the exo-methylene phenyl rings and the small energy difference computed for dimethyl fuchsone polymorphs. These ideas find application in the design of putative pharmaceutical polymorphs and crystal structure prediction.

Variable-Temperature Powder X-ray Diffraction of Aromatic Carboxylic Acid and Carboxamide Cocrystals

The effect of temperature on the cocrystallization of benzoic acid (BA), pentafluorobenzoic acid (FBA), benzamide (BAm), and pentafluorobenzamide (FBAm) is examined in the solid state. BA and FBA formed a 1:1 complex 1 at ambient temperature by grinding with a mortar and pestle. Grinding FBA and BAm together resulted in partial conversion into the 1:1 adduct 2 at 28 degrees C and complete transformation into the product cocrystal at 78 degrees C. Further heating (80-100 degrees C) and then cooling to room temperature gave a different powder pattern from that of 2. BAm and FBAm hardly reacted at ambient temperature, but they afforded the 1:1 cocrystal 3 by melt cocrystallization at 110-115 degrees C. Both BA+FBAm (4) and BA+BAm (5) reacted to give new crystalline phases upon heating, but the structures of these products could not be determined owing to a lack of diffraction-quality single crystals. The stronger COOH and CONH2 hydrogen-bonding groups of FBA and FBAm yielded the equimolar cocrystal 6 at room temperature, and heating of these solids to 90-100 degrees C gave a new crystalline phase. The X-ray crystal structures of 1, 2, 3, and 6 are sustained by the acid-acid/amide-amide homosynthons or acid-amide heterosynthon, with additional stabilization from phenyl-perfluorophenyl stacking in 1 and 3. The temperature required for complete transformation into the cocrystal was monitored by in situ variable-temperature powder X-ray diffraction (VT-PXRD), and formation of the cocrystal was confirmed by matching the experimental peak profile with the simulated diffraction pattern. The reactivity of H-bonding groups and the temperature for cocrystallization are in good agreement with the donor and acceptor strengths of the COOH and CONH2 groups. It was necessary to determine the exact temperature range for quantitative cocrystallization in each case because excessive heating caused undesirable phase transitions.