The Influence of Solvent Selection upon the Crystallizability and Nucleation Kinetics of Tolfenamic Acid Form II

The influence of the solution environment on the solution thermodynamics, crystallizability, and nucleation of tolfenamic acid (TFA) in five different solvents (isopropanol, ethanol, methanol, toluene, and acetonitrile) is examined using an integrated workflow encompassing both experimental studies and intermolecular modeling. The solubility of TFA in isopropanol is found to be the highest, consistent with the strongest solvent-solute interactions, and a concomitantly higher than ideal solubility. The crystallizability is found to be highly dependent on the solvent type with the overall order being isopropanol < ethanol < methanol < toluene < acetonitrile with the widest solution metastable zone width in isopropanol (24.49 to 47.41 °C) and the narrowest in acetonitrile (8.23 to 16.17 °C). Nucleation is found to occur via progressive mechanism in all the solvents studied. The calculated nucleation parameters reveal a considerably higher interfacial tension and larger critical nucleus radius in the isopropanol solutions, indicating the higher energy barrier hindering nucleation and hence lowering the nucleation rate. This is supported by diffusion coefficient measurements which are lowest in isopropanol, highlighting the lower molecular diffusion in the bulk of solution compared to the other solutions. The TFA concentration and critical supersaturation at the crystallization onset is found to be directly correlated with TFA/isopropanol solutions having the highest values of solubility and critical supersaturation. Intermolecular modeling of solute-solvent interactions supports the experimental observations of the solubility and crystallizability, highlighting the importance of understanding solvent selection and solution state structure at the molecular level in directing the solubility, solute mass transfer, crystallizability, and nucleation kinetics.

The Structural Pathway from its Solvated Molecular State to the Solution Crystallisation of the α- and β-Polymorphic Forms of Para Amino Benzoic Acid

Para amino benzoic acid has two well-characterised polymorphic forms and, whilst both crystallise in the monoclinic space group, they have quite different crystal chemistry and crystallisability behaviour. The molecular conformation...

Molecular, Solid-State and Surface Structures of the Conformational Polymorphic Forms of Ritonavir in Relation to their Physicochemical Properties

Purpose

Application of multi-scale modelling workflows to characterise polymorphism in ritonavir with regard to its stability, bioavailability and processing.

Methods

Molecular conformation, polarizability and stability are examined using quantum mechanics (QM). Intermolecular synthons, hydrogen bonding, crystal morphology and surface chemistry are modelled using empirical force fields.

Results

The form I conformation is more stable and polarized with more efficient intermolecular packing, lower void space and higher density, however its shielded hydroxyl is only a hydrogen bond donor. In contrast, the hydroxyl in the more open but less stable and polarized form II conformation is both a donor and acceptor resulting in stronger hydrogen bonding and a more stable crystal structure but one that is less dense. Both forms have strong 1D networks of hydrogen bonds and the differences in packing energies are partially offset in form II by its conformational deformation energy difference with respect to form I. The lattice energies converge at shorter distances for form I, consistent with its preferential crystallization at high supersaturation. Both forms exhibit a needle/lath-like crystal habit with slower growing hydrophobic side and faster growing hydrophilic capping habit faces with aspect ratios increasing from polar-protic, polar-aprotic and non-polar solvents, respectively. Surface energies are higher for form II than form I and increase with solvent polarity. The higher deformation, lattice and surface energies of form II are consistent with its lower solubility and hence bioavailability.

Conclusion

Inter-relationship between molecular, solid-state and surface structures of the polymorphic forms of ritonavir are quantified in relation to their physical-chemical properties.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11095-021-03048-2.

Review and Modeling of Crystal Growth of Atropisomers from Solutions

In this paper, theories on anisotropic crystal growth and crystallization of atropisomers are reviewed and a model for anisotropic crystal growth from solution containing slow inter-converting conformers is presented. The model applies to systems with growth-dominated crystallization from solutions and assumes that only one conformation participates in the solute integration step and is present in the crystal lattice. Other conformers, defined as the wrong conformers, must convert to the right conformer before they can assemble to the crystal lattice. The model presents a simple implicit method for evaluating the growth inhibition effect by the wrong conformers. The crystal growth model applies to anisotropic growth in two main directions, namely a slow-growing face and a fast-growing face and requires the knowledge of solute crystal face integration coefficients in both directions. A parameter estimation algorithm was derived to extract those coefficients from data about temporal concentration and crystal size during crystallization and was designed to have a short run time, while providing a high-resolution estimation. The model predicts a size-dependent growth rate and simulations indicated that for a given seed size and solvent system and for an isothermal anti-solvent addition crystallization, the seed loading and the supersaturation at seeding are the main factors impacting the final aspect ratio. The model predicts a decrease of the growth inhibition effect by the wrong conformer with increasing temperature, likely due to faster equilibration between conformers and/or a decrease of the population of the wrong conformer, if of low energy, at elevated temperatures. Finally, the model predicts that solute surface integration becomes the rate-limiting mechanism for high solute integration activation energies, resulting in no impact of the WC on the overall crystal growth process.

Synthesis, crystal structure and studies on the interaction with albumin of a new silver(I) complex based on 2-(4-nitrobenzenesulfonamido)benzoic acid

In the present work, the two-dimensional (2D) polymer poly[[μ₄-2-(4-nitrobenzenesulfonamido)benzoato-κ⁴O¹:O¹:O^1':N⁶]silver(I)] (AgL), [Ag(C₁₃H₉N₂O₆S)]_n, was obtained from 2-(4-nitrobenzenesulfonamido)benzoic acid (HL), C₁₃H₁₀N₂O₆S. FT-IR, ¹H and ¹³C{¹H} NMR spectroscopic analyses were used to characterize both compounds. The crystal structures of HL and AgL were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In the structure of HL, O-H...O hydrogen bonds between neighbouring molecules result in the formation of dimers, while the silver(I) complex shows polymerization associated with the O atoms of three distinct deprotonated ligands (L^-). Thus, the structure of the Ag complex can be considered as a coordination polymer consisting of a one-dimensional linear chain, constructed by carboxylate bridging groups, running parallel to the b axis. Neighbouring polymeric chains are further bridged by Ag-C monohapto contacts, resulting in a 2D framework. Fingerprint analysis of the Hirshfeld surfaces show that O...H/H...O hydrogen bonds are responsible for the most significant contacts in the crystal packing of HL and AgL, followed by the H...H and O...C/C...O interactions. The Ag...Ag, Ag...O/O...Ag and Ag...C/C...Ag interactions in the Hirshfeld surface represent 12.1% of the total interactions in the crystal packing. Studies of the interactions of the compounds with human serum albumin (HSA) indicated that both HL and AgL interact with HSA.