Academic literature on the topic 'Molecular cocrystal'

Crystal form (cocrystals, polymorphs, salts, hydrates and solvates) assortment remains a scientific challenge that implicates practical issues in the pharmaceutical industry at the late stage of drug development of pharmaceutical formulations and in early stage of synthesis and isolation of an API in favorable defined crystalline form. Indeed, the selection of the optimal crystal form of an API that indisputably impacts the drug development program is directly related to the API’s aqueous solubility. Since the aqueous solubility of an API is the benchmark for its drug delivery and absorption, by crystal form screening, optimization and selection it is possible to control the dissolution rate of API, and thus to determine the extent of its bioavailability and pharmacokinetics profile which are intricately interrelated to solubility and crystal forms. Therefore, understanding the crystal packing forces and their impact upon physicochemical properties of different crystal forms is threshold for controlling the performance of the API. The array of crystal forms in which molecular crystal of API may exist prevails over its possible polymorphs, salts, solvates and hydrates due to the vast number of potential coformers which, not only extend over the limited counterions for salt formation, but also they are much more versatile in nature and thus imply for more complex intermolecular interactions based on different H-bonding with API that lead to conformational changes and flexibility for crystal packing in process of cocrystallization. Molecular crystals of pharmaceutical interest are amenable to excel the phase transition in API which exert polymorphism. But on the other hand, due to the conformational flexibility caused by intermolecular recognition based on hydrogen bonding, they exploit the new polymorphic forms of the API that might be stabilized in the presence of favorable selected coformers. Another benefit of the molecular crystals cocrystalized with appropriate coformers is controlling the stereoselective resolution of the racemic APIs. The concept of modifying the properties of the API by the forming the molecular crystals containing single API in combination with coformer that is another API or functional excipient that improves the performance of the drug delivery or in the formulations, compared to the native API crystal, has become emerging paradigm for drug development programs. Moreover the combination of fixed-doses formulation have been frequently prescribed for therapy, the multi-API or “drug-drug” molecular crystals are relatively unexploited solid forms of APIs. This molecular crystals cocrystallized of the different by nature API, but complementary in terms of pharmacological effect or their mechanism of action have potential relevance for improving the physicochemical properties of both APIs, their biopharmaceutical performance and synergy in pharmacological respond. Crystal form screening of metformin yields two groups of molecular salts. The one comprises the molecular salts of metformin with a wide range of organic acids recognized as safe for food additives, the other is referred to molecular salts of metformin cocrystallized with coformers which are APIs (diclofenac, dichloroacetic acid, glycolic acid, and salicylic acid) and functional excipients (saccharin and acesulfame). Preliminary testing of cytotoxicity of the molecular crystals of metformin with dicloroacetic acid indicate an increased anticancer effect comparing to the effect exerted by the native drugs. .

Solubility enhancement of poorly-soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) remains a scientific challenge and poses a practical issue in the pharmaceutical industry. The emergence of pharmaceutical cocrystals has contributed another dimension to the diversity of crystal forms available at the disposal of the pharmaceutical scientist. That pharmaceutical cocrystals are amenable to the design principles of crystal engineering means that the number of crystal forms offered by pharmaceutical cocrystals is potentially greater than the combined numbers of polymorphs, salts, solvates and hydrates for an API. The current spotlight and early-onset dissolution profile ("spring-and-parachute" effect) exhibited by certain pharmaceutical cocrystals draw attention to an immediate question: How big is the impact of cocrystals on aqueous solubility? The scientific literature and in-house data on pharmaceutical cocrystals that are thermodynamically stable in water are reviewed and analyzed for trends in aqueous solubility and melting point between the cocrystal and the cocrystal formers. There is poor correlation between the aqueous solubility of cocrystal and cocrystal former with respect to the API. The log of the aqueous solubility ratio between cocrystal and API has a poor correlation with the melting point difference between cocrystal and API. Structure-property relationships between the cocrystal and the cocrystal formers remain elusive and the actual experiments are still necessary to investigate the desired physicochemical properties. Crystal form (cocrystals, polymorphs, salts, hydrates and solvates) diversity is and will continue to be a contentious issue for the pharmaceutical industry. That the crystal form of an API dramatically impacts its aqueous solubility (a fixed thermodynamic property) is illustrated by the histamine H2-receptor antagonist ranitidine hydrochloride and HIV protease inhibitor ritonavir. For more than a century, the dissolution rate of a solid has been shown to be directly dependent on its solubility, cçterîs paribus. A century later, it remains impossible to predict the properties of a solid, given its molecular structure. If delivery or absorption of an API are limited by its aqueous solubility, aqueous solubility then becomes a critical parameter linking bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of an API. Since the majority of APIs are Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) Class II (low solubility and high permeability) compounds, crystal form screening, optimization and selection have thus received more efforts, attention and investment. Given that the dissolution rate, aqueous solubility and crystal form of an API are intricately linked, it remains a scientific challenge to understand the nature of crystal packing forces and their impact upon physicochemical properties of different crystal forms. Indeed, the selection of an optimal crystal form of an API is an indispensable part of the drug development program. The impact of cocrystals on crystal form diversity is addressed with molecular and ionic targets in ellagic acid and lithium salts. A supramolecular heterosynthon approach was adopted for crystal form screening. Crystal form screening of ellagic acid yields molecular cocrystals, cocrystal solvates/hydrates and solvates. Crystal form screening of lithium salts (chloride, bromide and nitrate salts) afforded ionic cocrystals and cocrystal hydrates.

Research into cocrystals is just a small field within crystallography, though the significant rise of investigation into cocrystals has made it an exciting area of research. This thesis initially introduces the phenomenon of cocrystals, including the design, formation, structure solution and the properties of cocrystals. This thesis presents a number of new multi-component crystalline adducts that have been synthesised using dicarboxylic acids as coformers with isonicotinamide, nicotinamide or adenine. The first results chapter discusses a number of molecular adducts that contain distinct hydrogen bonding networks and includes the discovery of a new polymorph and the potential of adenine to tautomerise. The following two results chapters focus on molecular structures of nicotinamide and isonicotinamide with the dicarboxylic acids in which trends in crystal packing, cocrystal property studies and twisting of the acid backbone are discussed in detail. In conjunction with the crystal structure and property studies, several powder X-ray diffraction datasets were collected from a synchrotron source. The final results chapter shows that a cocrystal structure, such as nicotinamide : succinic acid, can be solved without the need of single crystal X-ray diffraction data.

Doctor of Philosophy<br>Department of Chemistry<br>Christer Aakeröy<br>Physical properties of bulk solids are typically governed by the molecular arrangement of individual building blocks with respect to each other in the crystal lattice. Thus the ability to synthesize molecular crystals with pre-organized connectivities allows for the rational design of functional solids with desirable and tunable physical properties. A thorough understanding of the various intermolecular interactions that govern the solid-state architectures is an important pre-requisite for the rational design of molecular solids. In order to understand the role of molecular geometric complementarity in the design of solid-state architectures, we explored the structural landscape of two isomeric pyridine based acceptors (3N and 4N) with binding sites oriented along different directions, i.e. parallel and at angle of 60° respectively, with a series of even chain diacid (colinear binding sites) and odd chain diacid (binding sites oriented along 120°) using co-crystallization technique. The results obtained shows a striking correlation between the observed solid state architecture and geometric complementarity of interacting species. Combinations of 3N with odd and 4N with even chain diacid produced 1-D chains whereas 3N with even and 4N with odd chain diacid generated 0-D ring architectures. In order to exploit the possibility of fine-tuning physical properties using co-crystallization techniques, solubility measurements were performed on 3N and 4N co-crystals with the diacids. The results show that the solubilities of 3N and 4N in the co-crystal form were very different from their solubility in the pure form. Also, there was a strong correlation observed between the solubility of the co-crystals and their corresponding co-formers, i.e. diacids. To explore the dependence of crystal structure on a physical property such as melting point, we synthesized co-crystals of 3,3‟-azopyridine and 4,4‟-azopyridine with a series of even chain diacids. Structural consistency was obtained within the two groups of co-crystals. In both groups, 1-D chains were formed with the diacid as the primary building block. However, In the series of 3,3‟-azopyridine co-crystals, the co-crystal with succinic acid showed a different solid-state packing arrangement (although the primary building block was same as others) compared to the others in the same series. This difference is also reflected as a deviation in the melting point, while the others in the series showed a perfect correlation between the structural consistency and melting point behavior. It was also observed that the co-crystals of 4,4‟-azopyridine displayed higher melting points than co-crystals of 3,3‟-azopyridine which could be due to the differences in the overall packing of the crystal which is a combination of different intermolecular interactions that exist between molecules in the solid state. Using bi-functional donors (with both hydrogen and halogen bond donors on same backbone), we investigated the relative strengths of hydrogen and halogen bond donors in the presence of two isomeric acceptors, 3,3‟-azopyridine and 4,4‟-azopyridine, which exhibit geometric bias in their binding-site orientation. Based on the crystal structures, we noticed a preferential binding of hydrogen bond donors with 3,3‟-azopyridine and both hydrogen and halogen bond donors with 4,4‟-azopyridine. This shows that the two types of donors are very comparable and their binding preference is governed by the geometric complementarity between the donor-acceptor pair. Finally, we explored the scope of using co-crystallization for tuning the physical properties of two agrochemicals, cyprodinil and terbuthylazine. The crystal structures of the actives with a series of even chain diacids displayed structural consistency in the primary motifs within the two groups, while few differences were observed in the packing arrangement and secondary interactions. By forming co-crystals we were able to improve the solubility and melting point of cyprodinil, while ensuring that the hygroscopicity of the active was unaltered.

Calcium ions have important roles in cellular processes including intracellular signaling, protein folding, enzyme activation and initiation of programmed cell death. Cells maintain low levels of calcium in their cytosol in order to regulate these processes. When activation of calcium-dependent processes is needed, cells can release calcium stored in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) into the cytosol to initiate the processes. This can also initiate formation of plasma membrane channels that allow entry of additional calcium from the extracellular milieu. The change in calcium levels is referred to as calcium flux. A key protein involved in initiation of calcium flux is Stromal Interaction Molecule 1 (STIM1), which has recently been identified as a sensor of ER calcium levels. STIM1 is an ER transmembrane protein that is activated by a drop in ER calcium levels. Upon activation, STIM1 oligomerizes with a plasma membrane protein, ORA1, to form calcium-selective plasma membrane channels. Dysregulation of calcium flux has been reported in cancers, autoimmune diseases and other diseases. STIM1 is a promising target in drug discovery due to its key role early in calcium flux. Here we review the involvement and importance of STIM1 in diseases and we discuss STIM1 as a viable target for drug discovery using computational chemistry methods to rapidly identify new molecules to target STIM1. Herein, computational techniques were used to understand the mechanistic role of STIM1 and virtual screening is in process to discover potential inhibitors of STIM1 activity. Also mutational analysis on STIM1 was performed computationally to see the effect it had on the protein computationally. It has been found that tumor cells and tissues, compared to normal cells, have higher levels of copper and possibly other metal ions. This presents a potential vulnerability of tumor cells that can serve as a physiological difference between cancer cells and normal cells and allows design of compounds that selectively target tumor cells while sparing normal cells. Recently we have identified compounds that have potential to inhibit the proteasome in tumor cells and induce cell death by mobilizing endogenous tumor copper resulting in in cellulo activation of the compound. These compounds hence act as pro-drugs, becoming active drugs in tumor cells with high copper content but remaining essentially inactive in normal cells, thereby greatly reducing adverse effects in patients. Such use would be of significant benefit in early detection and treatment of cancers, in particular, aggressive cancers such as pancreatic cancer which is usually not detected until it has reached an advanced stage. Six compounds were identified following virtual screening of the NCI Diversity Set with our proteasome computer model followed by confirmation with a biochemical assay that showed significant inhibition of the proteasome by the compounds in the presence of copper ions. In a dose response assay, NSC 37408 (6, 7-dihydroxy-1-benzofuran-3-one), our best compound, exhibited an IC50 of 3µM in the presence of 100 nM copper. Chagas’ Disease, a parasitic disease caused by the parasite Trypanosma Cruzi, is endemic to Latin America. The disease manifests itself in a short acute phase and a long chronic phase. Current treatments are effective only in the acute phase and are not used in the chronic phase due to toxicity of the drugs. Hence a new drug discovery approach was chosen for this disease. Cruzain is the major etiologic enzyme involved in the disease and is only present in the parasite. It is also an enzyme expressed by the parasite in both phases. Herein, a novel peptoid library containing hydromethylketones was constructed and screened against a virtual structure of cruzain. The peptoids thus found through this drug discovery effort can be used as potential drug candidates against cruzain. Computational techniques will help achieve a high degree of specificity and aid in proposing assays for determining compounds with high activity Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. Its pathogenesis incorporates many potential targets for treatment. Among the targets identified, Apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) is especially interesting due to its catalytic role in the degradation and clearance of amyloid beta (Aβ), a risk factor for Alzheimer disease. ApoE exists in 3 isoforms which directly impact its functionality in the body. There are characteristic structural differences between them. In ApoE4 ionic interactions exist between Arg-61 and Glu-255 residues, unlike the other isoforms. Hence interruption of this interaction by inhibitors may change the structure of apoE4 to a more linear structure as observed in the other isoforms. Virtual screening of the NCI diversity set on an energy minimized protein virtual structure was performed to identify potential small molecule inhibitors and to gain further understanding of interactions that can be targeted to inhibit this protein. From the top ligands in the NCI diversity set, a peptide library was designed to target the protein. Previous research has indicated that liquid assisted grinding (LAG) is efficient and reliable for cocrystal formation when compared to solvent crystallization and dimethyl formamide is the best solvent for grinding. Herein, we report the comparison of four screening processes: Slurry, solvent crystallization, LAG and dry grinding. Thirty-eight crystal forms containing the Narom··· COOH, Narom···OH supramolecular heterosynthons were screened in the process, and it was observed that slurry methodology is as efficient and reliable in forming cocrystals as solution crystallization. Twenty-four new crystal forms were also isolated herein. LAG was found to be more efficient as compared to dry grinding and was successful in the formation of twenty-five crystal forms of the thirty-eight screened. Dimethyl formamide still remains the best solvent for LAG. All our slurry experiments were performed in water and it was found that water can be used reliably for this method for compounds within a wide range of solubility, thereby increasing the versatility and usability of this method for future screening procedures.

A range of small molecules of interest for use in organic semiconductor devices were studied computationally. Trends in geometry, absorption spectra, molecular orbitals, electrostatic potentials, reorganisation energies were studied. Results suggest that, as with acenes, the performance of non-linear cata-condensed polyaromatic hydrocarbons improves as number of fused benzene rings increases. The torsion in these molecules did not appear to have a large impact on the conjugation across the core and little effect on the absorption spectra, although it did affect the reorganisation energies on which charge mobilities depend. Computational studies of mobilities of anthradithiophene molecules were broadly able to reproduce trends seen experimentally and emphasised the importance of crystal morphology. Experimental work was also carried out to search for cocrystals between anthradithiophene derivatives. Many examples were found with some mixtures forming different cocrystals at different mixture ratios. These results were rationalised by a computational study that showed molecules which had a similar binding energy were more likely to be able to form cocrystals. Cocrystal devices were fabricated and 3 out of 7 showed a larger mobility than devices made out of its constituent materials alone. The best of these had a mobility 65% higher than a device made out of the constituent material with the largest mobility. An energy decomposition analysis was carried out on a novel thallophilic system, a complex of thallium with a neutral β-triketimine ligand which was found to form dimers with close Tl-Tl interactions. Calculations show the electrostatic interaction to be repulsive for the dimer with no counter ions, but attractive when 3,5-bistrifluoromethylphenyl borate counter ions are included. This suggests the metallophilic interaction is counter ion-mediated, requiring the anions to provide favourable electrostatics, even in the case of spatially diffuse and distant counter ions such used here. To enable the studies described here software was written for simulating absorption spectra. An implementation into the Gaussian Suite of programs of an energy decomposition scheme and its extension to include an empirical dispersion correction was also carried out.

Yes<br>The cocrystal of nitrofurantoin with urea (C8H6N4O5)·(CH4N2O), a non-ionic supramolecular complex, has been studied. Nitrofurantoin (NF) is a widely used antibacterial drug for the oral treatment of infections of the urinary tract. Characterization of the cocrystal of nitrofurantoin with urea (NF–urea) was performed spectroscopically by employing FT-IR, FT- and dispersive-Raman, and CP-MAS solid-state 13C NMR techniques, along with quantum chemical calculations. With the purpose of having a better understanding of H-bonding (inter- and intra-molecular), two different models (monomer and monomer + 3urea) of the NF–urea cocrystal were prepared. The fundamental vibrational modes were characterized depending on their potential energy distribution (PED). A combined experimental and theoretical wavenumber study proved the existence of the cocrystal. The presence and nature of H-bonds present in the molecules were ascertained using quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. As the HOMO–LUMO gap defines the reactivity of a molecule, and this gap is more for the API than the cocrystal, this implies that the cocrystal is more reactive. Global descriptors were calculated to understand the chemical reactivity of the cocrystal and NF. Local reactivity descriptors such as Fukui functions, local softness and electrophilicity indices were analysed to determine the reactive sites within the molecule. The comparison between NF–urea (monomer) and NF showed that the cocrystal has improved overall reactivity, which is affected by the increased intermolecular hydrogen bond strength. The docking studies revealed that the active sites (C[double bond, length as m-dash]O, N–H, NO2, N–N) of NF showed best binding energies of −4.89 kcal mol−1 and −5.56 kcal mol−1 for MUL and 1EGO toxin, respectively, which are bacterial proteins of Escherichia coli. This cocrystal could potentially work as an exemplar system to understand H-bond interactions in biomolecules.

Yes<br>Investigations of structural reactivity, molecular interactions and vibrational characterization of pharmaceutical drugs are helpful in understanding their behaviour. The aim of this study is to determine the molecular, electronic and chemical properties of the antibiotic drug nitrofurantoin (NF), after cocrystallisation with 3-aminobenzoic acid (3ABA) and to understand how those changes lead to variation of properties in the cocrystal NF–3ABA. NF–3ABA formation is explained by stabilization via the hydrogen-bond network between NF and 3ABA molecules. It is thoroughly characterized by IR, Raman and CP-MAS solid-state 13C NMR techniques, along with quantum chemical calculations. The results of IR, Raman, and 13C NMR analyses showed that imide N–H23 and C12[double bond, length as m-dash]O of NF interact with the acid C[double bond, length as m-dash]O and –OH groups in 3-ABA, respectively. Therefore the IR, Raman, and 13C NMR spectra verified the formation of N–H⋯O and O–H⋯O hydrogen bonds. To study hydrogen bonding interactions theoretically in NF–3ABA, two functionals B3LYP and wB97X-D have been used. A comparison is made between the results obtained by B3LYP and those predicted at the wB97X-D level. It is found that wB97X-D is best applied density functional theory (DFT) functional to describe the hydrogen bonding interactions. The strength and nature of hydrogen bonding in NF–3ABA have been analysed by quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. To validate the results obtained by QTAIM theory and to study the long-range forces, such as van der Waals interactions, the steric effects in NF–3ABA, the reduced density gradient (RDG) and the isosurface have been plotted using Multiwfn software. QTAIM and isosurface analysis suggested that the hydrogen bonding interactions present in NF–3ABA are moderate in nature. The calculated HOMO–LUMO energy gap shows that NF–3ABA is more active than NF and 3ABA. Chemical reactivity descriptors are calculated to understand the various aspects of pharmacological sciences. Chemical reactivity parameters show that NF–3ABA is softer and chemically more reactive than NF. The results suggest that cocrystals can be a feasible alternative for positively changing the targeted physicochemical properties of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).<br>V. R. Vangala acknowledges the financial support of the Royal Society of Chemistry for mobility grant (2015/17).