New Co-Crystals/Salts of Gallic Acid and Substituted Pyridines: An Effect of Ortho-Substituents on the Formation of an Acid–Pyridine Heterosynthon

Co-crystallization of gallic acid with pyridines and their polyaromatic analogue, quinoline, ortho-substituted by various proton-donating groups able to form hydrogen bonds, produced the only reported co-crystal of gallic acid with an ortho-substituted pyridine, 2-hydroxypyridine, as its preferred pyridone-2 tautomer, and four new crystalline products of gallic acid. These co-crystals, or gallate salts depending on the choice of the pyridine-containing compound, as predicted by the pKa rule, were identified by X-ray diffraction to feature the popular acid–pyridine heterosynthon found in most of the two-component systems of gallic acid that lack ortho-substituents in the pyridine-containing compound. This single-point heterosynthon is, however, modified by one or two proton-donating ortho-substituents, which sometimes may transform into the proton acceptors in an adopted tautomer or zwitterion, to produce its two- or other multi-point variants, including a very rare four-point heterosynthon. The hydrogen bonds they form with the gallic acid species in the appropriate co-crystals/salts strongly favors the formation of the acid–pyridine heterosynthon over the acid–acid homosynthon. In the competitive conditions of multi-component systems, such a modification might be used to reduce supramolecular-synthon-based polymorphism to produce new pharmaceuticals and other crystalline materials with designed properties.

Crystal structures of four isomeric hydrogen-bonded co-crystals of 6-methyl-quinoline with 2-chloro-4-nitro-benzoic acid, 2-chloro-5-nitro-benzoic acid, 3-chloro-2-nitro-benzoic acid and 4-chloro-2-nitro-benzoic acid

The structures of the four isomeric compounds of 6-methyl-quinoline with chloro- and nitro-substituted benzoic acids, C7H4ClNO4·C10H9N, namely, 2-chloro-4-nitro-benzoic acid-6-methyl-quinoline (1/1), (I), 2-chloro-5-nitro-benzoic acid-6-methyl-quinoline (1/1), (II), 3-chloro-2-nitro-benzoic acid-6-methyl-quinoline (1/1), (III), and 4-chloro-2-nitro-benzoic acid-6-methyl-quinoline (1/1), (IV), have been determined at 185-190 K. In each compound, the acid and base mol-ecules are linked by a short hydrogen bond between a carboxyl O atom and an N atom of the base. The O⋯N distances are 2.5452 (12), 2.6569 (13), 2.5640 (17) and 2.514 (2) Å, respectively, for compounds (I)-(IV). In the hydrogen-bonded acid-base units of (I), (III) and (IV), the H atoms are each disordered over two positions with O site:N site occupancies of 0.65 (3):0.35 (3), 0.59 (4):0.41 (4) and 0.48 (5):0.52 (5), respectively, for (I), (III) and (IV). The H atom in the hydrogen-bonded unit of (II) is located at the O-atom site. In all of the crystals of (I)-(IV), π-π inter-actions between the quinoline ring system and the benzene ring of the acid mol-ecule are observed. In addition, a π-π inter-action between the benzene rings of adjacent acid mol-ecules and a C-H⋯O hydrogen bond are observed in the crystal of (I), and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and O⋯Cl contacts occur in the crystals of (III) and (IV). These inter-molecular inter-actions connect the acid and base mol-ecules, forming a layer structure parallel to the bc plane in (I), a column along the a-axis direction in (II), a layer parallel to the ab plane in (III) and a three-dimensional network in (IV). Hirshfeld surfaces for the title compounds mapped over d norm and shape index were generated to visualize the weak inter-molecular inter-actions.

Kinetic Study on the Preparation of Fumaric Acid from Maleic Acid by Batch Noncatalytic Isomerization

In recent years, the increase in demand for fumaric acid from industry has resulted in an increased need for a high-selectivity process for the conversion of maleic acid to fumaric acid. A highly selective conversion of fumaric acid was achieved without a catalyst by a simple one-step hydrothermal reaction. In addition, the competitive conversion of maleic acid, fumaric acid, and malic acid was first systematically investigated in detail without using a catalyst. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared, which demonstrated that the product was fumaric acid. The highly selective conversion of fumaric acid was achieved, and the yield of fumaric acid could reach 92%. Furthermore, a reaction kinetic model was put forward to study the competitive transformation process. The kinetic model predictions were found to agree well with the experimental data. The kinetic parameters were used to explain the changes in the content of every substance at different reaction temperatures and reaction times. In addition, the initial maleic acid concentration in the reaction was also considered as an influencing factor. These results can facilitate the conditional control and product control of industrial processes for the production of fumaric acid or malic acid using latter without a catalyst.

A new multicomponent salt of imidazole and tetrabromoterepthalic acid: structural, optical, thermal, electrical transport properties and antibacterial activity along with Hirshfeld surface analysis

Herein, we report the structural, optical, thermal and electrical transport properties of a new multicomponent salt (TBTA(2-))·2(IM(+))·(water) [TBTA-IM] of tetrabromoterepthalic acid (TBTA) with imidazole (IM). The crystal structure of TBTA-IM is determined by both the single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction techniques. The structural analysis has revealed that the supramolecular charge assisted O(-)⋯HN(+) hydrogen bonding and Br⋯π interactions play the most vital role in formation of this multicomponent supramolecular assembly. The Hirshfeld surface analysis has been carried out to investigate supramolecular interactions and associated 2D fingerprint plots reveal the relative contribution of these interactions in the crystal structure quantitatively. According to theoretical analysis the HOMO-LUMO energy gap of the salt is 2.92 eV. The salt has been characterized by IR, UV-vis and photoluminescence spectroscopic studies. It shows direct optical transition with band gaps of 4.1 eV, which indicates that the salt is insulating in nature. The photoluminescence spectrum of the salt is significantly different from that of TBTA. Further, a comparative study on the antibacterial activity of the salt with respect to imidazole, Gatifloxacin and Ciprofloxacin has been performed. Moreover, the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic of ITO/TBTA-IM/Al sandwich structure exhibits good rectifying property and the electron tunneling process governs the electrical transport mechanism of the device.

Altering physical properties of pharmaceutical co-crystals in a systematic manner

Systematic structure–property studies on a series of co-crystals of potential cancer drugs with aliphatic dicarboxylic acids were undertaken.