Cocrystal Screening Research Articles

Combined computational/experimental investigation of new cocrystals of the drug bosentan

This manuscript reports the discovery of new cocrystals of bosentan, a drug used in the treatment of pulmonary artery hypertension,viaa combined virtual/experimental cocrystal screening.

Effects of polyvinylpyrrolidone and poly (ethylene glycol) on preparation of ibuprofen pharmaceutical cocrystal

In this study, we investigated the effects of polymers on the pharmaceutical cocrystal formation process. Ibuprofen (IBU) was selected as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), nicotinamide (NIC) and saccharin (SAC) as the cocrystal coformer (CCF), ethanol/water as the solvent, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) as the representative polymers. We prepared IBU-NIC and IBU-SAC cocrystals in ethanol-water cosolvent in the absence or presence of polymers. Cocrystal screening products were characterized by FTIR, DSC, PXRD, and HPLC. The results showed that the mixture of IBU and IBU-NIC cocrystal can be prepared in ethanol-water cosolvent without polymers. The addition of PVP facilitates the formation of pure IBU-NIC cocrystal; however, no cocrystal was formed in PEG solutions. SAC could not cocrystallize with IBU in the ethanol-water solvent in the absence of polymers. Neither PVP nor PEG could facilitate the formation of the IBU-SAC cocrystal.

Stability screening of pharmaceutical cocrystals

An efficient protocol for assessing both the chemical and physical stability of cocrystalline forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is proposed. In this protocol, the cocrystalline material is used to prepare two standard formulations, mimicking wet granulations, to make low-dose tablets. After designed stress testing at a range of temperatures and RH conditions, degradant formation is modeled from the data using ASAPprime ® to determine if the tablets have a minimum of a one-year shelf-life (25 °C/60% RH open). When the cocrystals provide a kinetic solubility enhancement over the un-complexed API, a physical assessment of the cocrystal stability is carried out using the same tablets at selected stress conditions. For this assessment, kinetic solubility (where the amount of buffer used to dissolve the tablet is adjusted to completely dissolve the cocrystalline form but leave most of the un-complexed form out of solution) changes are used to indicate whether there is a significant risk for physical instability on long-term storage. This process was exemplified using model cocrystals of APIs.

Dihydrofolate Reductase Inhibitors: The Pharmacophore as a Guide for Co-Crystal Screening.

In this work, co-crystal screening was carried out for two important dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) inhibitors, trimethoprim (TMP) and pyrimethamine (PMA), and for 2,4-diaminopyrimidine (DAP), which is the pharmacophore of these active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The isomeric pyridinecarboxamides and two xanthines, theophylline (THEO) and caffeine (CAF), were used as co-formers in the same experimental conditions, in order to evaluate the potential for the pharmacophore to be used as a guide in the screening process. In silico co-crystal screening was carried out using BIOVIA COSMOquick and experimental screening was performed by mechanochemistry and supported by (solid + liquid) binary phase diagrams, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The in silico prediction of low propensities for DAP, TMP and PMA to co-crystallize with pyridinecarboxamides was confirmed: a successful outcome was only observed for DAP + nicotinamide. Successful synthesis of multicomponent solid forms was achieved for all three target molecules with theophylline, with DAP co-crystals revealing a greater variety of stoichiometries. The crystalline structures of a (1:2) TMP:THEO co-crystal and of a (1:2:1) DAP:THEO:ethyl acetate solvate were solved. This work demonstrated the possible use of the pharmacophore of DHFR inhibitors as a guide for co-crystal screening, recognizing some similar trends in the outcome of association in the solid state and in the molecular aggregation in the co-crystals, characterized by the same supramolecular synthons.

Automatic Cocrystal Detection by Raman Spectral Deconvolution-Based Novelty Analysis.

Cocrystals are important molecular adducts that have many advantages as a means of modifying the physicochemical properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients, including taste masking and improved solubility, bioavailability, and stability. As a result, the discovery of new cocrystals is of great interest to commercial drug discovery programs. Time-consuming manual analysis of the large volumes of data that emerge from large-scale cocrystal screening programs of up to 1000s of preparations poses a challenge. Raman spectroscopy has been shown to discriminate between cocrystals and physical mixtures and is easy to automate, allowing rapid screening of large numbers of potential cocrystals, but the spectral features that encode the information are often subtle (e.g., slight changes in peak positions or intensities). We have employed an automated signal processing routine based on a sparse decomposition algorithm to speed up the data processing steps while maintaining the accuracy of a trained spectroscopist. We used our algorithm to screen 31 potential cocrystal preparations and found that through the use of a computationally generated threshold, we could achieve a clear classification of cocrystals and physical mixtures in less than a minute, compared to several hours manually.

The Selection and Screening of Conformers

Many drugs fall in the Biopharmaceutics Classification System category of class II and class IV drugs i.e. low solubility/high permeability and low solubility/low permeability respectively. Due to their hydrophobicity, there is difficulty in forming a stable formulation. Crystal engineering is implemented with a water-soluble molecule (called conformer) and an active pharmaceutical ingredient to improve the aqueous solubility. This review primarily is written to provide a general understanding of the experimental techniques used during the screening of cocrystals. It also discusses the challenges and future perspectives of cocrystal engineering and their importance to be thermodynamically stable to be acknowledged as a potentially marketable product.

Screening and fluorescence investigation on favipiravir cocrystal

Favipiravir was chosen as a model for study on cocrystal screening of nucleoside analog. Seven coformer candidates were selected according to supramolecular synthon method and verified with molecular modeling and hot-stage. Only 4-amino benzoic acid was able to form cocrystal with the color transformation from white to yellow. Fluorescence study was investigated and compared during cocrystallization. Due to the fluorescent emission nature of nitrogen heterocyclic nucleoside analog, fluorescence could also be utilized as a promising tool in screening cocrystals. This study provides an efficient pathway toward nucleoside analog cocrystal and affords a fluorescent screening method for drug cocrystal research.

Four Novel Pharmaceutical Cocrystals of Oxyresveratrol, Including a 2 : 3 Cocrystal with Betaine

Cocrystal engineering can alter the physicochemical properties of a drug and generate a superior drug candidate for formulation design. Oxyresveratrol (ORV) exhibits a poor solubility in aqueous environments, thereby resulting in a poor bioavailability. Extensive cocrystal screening of ORV with 67 cocrystal formers (coformers) bearing various functional groups was therefore conducted using grinding, liquid-assisted grinding, solvent evaporation, and slurry methods. Six cocrystals (ORV with betaine (BTN), L-proline (PRL), isonicotinamide, nicotinamide, urea, and ethyl maltol) were found, including four novel cocrystals. Powder X-ray diffraction, low frequency Raman spectroscopy, and thermal analysis revealed unique crystal forms in all obtained samples. Conventional Raman and infrared data differentiated the cocrystals by the presence or absence of a hydrogen bond interacting with the aromatic ring of ORV. The crystal structures were then elucidated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Two new cocrystals consisting of ORV : BTN (2 : 3) and ORV : PRL : H2O (1 : 2 : 1) were identified, and their crystal structures were solved. We report novel cocrystalline solids of ORV with improved aqueous solubilities and the unique cage-like crystal structures.

New Sodium Mefenamate - Nicotinamide Multicomponent Crystal Development to Modulate Solubility and Dissolution: Preparation, Structural, and Performance Study.

A cocrystal of mefenamic acid (MA) - nicotinamide (NA) has been reported to increase the solubility of MA, but it still does not exceed the solubility of sodium mefenamate (SM). Accordingly, this research dealt with a new salt cocrystal arrangement of SM - NA. Cocrystal screening was performed, followed by powder and single-crystal preparation. Solvent drop grinding and slow evaporation at cold and ambient temperatures were employed to produce the multicomponent crystal. Two new salt cocrystals were found as hemihydrates and monohydrates, named SMN-HH and SMN-MH, respectively. SMN-MH single crystals were successfully isolated and structurally analyzed using a single crystal X-ray diffractometer. Pharmaceutical properties were investigated, including hydrate stability, solubility, and intrinsic dissolution. The experiments showed that the hemihydrate was stable under ambient humidity and temperature, and that the monohydrate rapidly changed to hemihydrate. Both hydrates improved the solubility and intrinsic dissolution of SM, but SMN-HH was superior. The data showed that SMN salt cocrystals combine the advantages of salt and cocrystals and show potential for dosage form development.

A comparative research between atomic-based and chemical calculation-based descriptors for cocrystal screening machine learning model

A comparative research between atomic-based and chemical calculation-based descriptors for cocrystal screening machine learning model

Obtaining Cocrystals by Reaction Crystallization Method: Pharmaceutical Applications.

Cocrystals have gained attention in the pharmaceutical industry due to their ability to improve solubility, stability, in vitro dissolution rate, and bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs. Conceptually, cocrystals are multicomponent solids that contain two or more neutral molecules in stoichiometric amounts within the same crystal lattice. There are several techniques for obtaining cocrystals described in the literature; however, the focus of this article is the Reaction Crystallization Method (RCM). This method is based on the generation of a supersaturated solution with respect to the cocrystal, while this same solution is saturated or unsaturated with respect to the components of the cocrystal individually. The advantages of the RCM compared with other cocrystallization techniques include the ability to form cocrystals without crystallization of individual components, applicability to the development of in situ techniques for the screening of high quality cocrystals, possibility of large-scale production, and lower cost in both time and materials. An increasing number of scientific studies have demonstrated the use of RCM to synthesize cocrystals, mainly for drugs belonging to class II of the Biopharmaceutics Classification System. The promising results obtained by RCM have demonstrated the applicability of the method for obtaining pharmaceutical cocrystals that improve the biopharmaceutical characteristics of drugs.

Current and potential applications of simultaneous DSC-FTIR microspectroscopy for pharmaceutical analysis.

Quality control (QC) is the most important key issue in the pharmaceutical industry to ensure the quality of drug products. Many analytical instruments and techniques in pharmaceutical analysis are applied to assess the quality and quantity of the drugs. In the current and future trends, a combination of digitization, automation and hyphenation with high throughput on-line performance will be the topics for the future of pharmaceutical QC. The hyphenated analytical techniques have recently received great attention as unique means to solve complex analytical problems in a short period of time. This review article is an update on the recent potential applications of hyphenated technique developed from the coupling of a rapid separation or induction technique (differential scanning calorimetry; DSC) and an on-line spectroscopic (Fourier transform infrared; FTIR) detection technology to carry out an one-step solid-state analysis in pharmaceutical formulation developments, including (1) intramolecular condensation of pharmaceutical polymers, (2) intramolecular cyclization of drugs and sweetener, (3) polymorphic transformation of drugs and excipients, (4) drug-polymer (excipient) interaction, (5) fast cocrystal screening and formation. This simultaneous DSC-FTIR microspectroscopy can also provide an easy and direct method for one-step screening and qualitative detection of drug stability in real time.

Co-Crystal Screening by Vapor Sorption of Organic Solvents

Co-Crystal Screening by Vapor Sorption of Organic Solvents

Screening and Preparation of Cocrystals: A Comparative Study of Mechanochemistry vs Slurry Methods.

Cocrystals of biologically active molecular compounds have potential utility in drug products thanks to their effect upon physicochemical properties such as aqueous solubility. The fact that control of cocrystallization can be more challenging than crystallization of single-component crystals means that systematic studies that address the methodology of cocrystal screening, production, and purification are a topical subject. We previously reported a comparison of slow evaporation vs mechanochemistry for a library of 25 molecular cocrystals. Herein, we compare the previously reported mechanochemistry results (solvent-drop grinding (SDG) with eight solvents) with new results obtained from slurrying in five preferred solvents using the same library of 25 cocrystals. Overall, both methods were found to be effective with slurrying and SDG being 94 and 78.5% successful, respectively. Importantly, 96% of the cocrystals formed via slurrying were observed to be free of starting materials (coformers) according to powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), whereas this was the case for only 72% of the cocrystals prepared by SDG. Slurrying therefore compared favorably with mechanochemistry, which tends to leave small amounts of unreacted coformer(s) as byproducts, and solution crystallization, which often affords crystals of the least soluble coformer because it can be difficult to control the saturation of three or more solids. Perhaps the most interesting and surprising result of this study was that water slurrying proved to be highly effective, even for low-solubility coformers. Indeed, water slurrying was found to be effective for 21 of the 25 cocrystals studied.

Review on Pharmaceutical Co-Crystals and Design Strategies

Poor aqueous solubility and low oral bioavailability of an active pharmaceutical ingredient are the major constraints during the development of new product. Various approaches have been used for enhancement of solubility of poorly aqueous soluble drugs, but success of these approaches depends on physical and chemical nature of the molecules being developed. Co-crystallization of drug substances offers a great opportunity for the development of new drug products with superior physicochemical such as melting point, tabletability, solubility, stability, bioavailability and permeability, while preserving the pharmacological properties of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Co-crystals are multi component systems in which two components, an active pharmaceutical ingredient and a coformer are present in stoichiometric ratio and bonded together with non-covalent interactions in the crystal lattice. This review article presents a systematic overview of pharmaceutical co-crystals, differences between co-crystals with salts, solvates and hydrates are summarized along with the advantages of co-crystals with examples. The theoretical parameters underlying the selection of coformers and screening of co-crystals have been summarized and different methods of co-crystal formation and evaluation have been explained.

A Novel, Extremely Bioavailable Cocrystal of Pterostilbene

New multicomponent solid forms of the nutraceutical pterostilbene have been discovered and characterized through experimental cocrystal screening. Among the coformers tested, picolinic acid formed ...

Virtual Cocrystal Screening Methods as Tools to Understand the Formation of Pharmaceutical Cocrystals—A Case Study of Linezolid, a Wide-Range Antibacterial Drug

Experimental mechanochemical screening of cocrystals with linezolid (LIN) resulted in the formation of six new crystal phases, including three neat cocrystals and three cocrystal hydrates, in addition to seven previously described cocrystals. In an attempt to understand the factors governing the formation of these phases, different experimental conditions of the mechanochemical reactions (polymorphic forms of LIN and presence of different solvents to create liquid-assisted grinding conditions) were tested and the results were compared with the predictions from three commonly used virtual cocrystal screening tools: molecular complementarity, hydrogen bond propensity, and molecular electrostatic potential maps. It is shown that these three methods can be used to help understand a molecule’s preferences to form cocrystals with particular coformers. The influence of molecular conformation on the outcome of the predictions is also evaluated. A comparison between the prediction methods indicates that while considering a set of similar coformers, the approach based on molecular electrostatic potential maps seems to be more consistent with the experimental results than molecular complementarity and hydrogen bond propensity tools. Instead, these two latter approaches are recommended at the early stages of coformer selection. In addition, intermolecular energy contribution (lattice energy) to the total energy of crystal forms of coformers was found to be indicative of the feasibility of cocrystal formation in the case of coformers capable of forming similar supramolecular synthons.

A New and Highly Stable Cocrystal of Vitamin D3 for Use in Enhanced Food Supplements

A new cocrystal of Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) and resorcinol has been discovered and characterized through experimental cocrystal screening. Its high stability has been studied against light, heat, and chemicals present in animal food premixes in order to develop a novel and alternative formulation to current microencapsulation approaches to protect Vitamin D3 from oxidation. Our results show that the new cocrystal is extremely stable and it can become the basis for very efficient formulations of Vitamin D3 which fulfills the stability requirements of industrial applications.

Liquid‐Assisted Grinding Mechanochemistry in the Synthesis of Pharmaceuticals

AbstractMechanochemical reactions by milling, grinding or other types of mechanical action have emerged as a salient green approach because of its wide applications towards academic and industrial chemical communities in sustainable solvent‐free/solvent‐less processes. Liquid‐assisted grinding (LAG) as an extension of traditional solvent‐free mechanochemical techniques by which a small amount of liquid is used as an additive to enhance and/or control reactivity, has been fruitfully applied in the screening of inclusion compounds, cocrystals, salts, solvates, and polymorphs. However, utilization of this important technique in the synthesis of pharmaceutically and biologically relevant targets was not adequately investigated. This review article summarizes an overview of the latest development of LAG mechanochemical approaches in the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and drug‐like fragments, highlights its superiority versus conventional syntheses.magnified image

A Contribution to the Solid State Forms of Bis(demethoxy)curcumin: Co-Crystal Screening and Characterization.

Bis(demethoxy)curcumin (BDMC) is one of the main active components found in turmeric. Major drawbacks for its usage are its low aqueous solubility, and the challenging separation from other curcuminoids present in turmeric. Co-crystallization can be applied to alter the physicochemical properties of BDMC in a desired manner. A co-crystal screening of BDMC with four hydroxybenzenes was carried out using four different methods of co-crystal production: crystallization from solution by slow solvent evaporation (SSE), and rapid solvent removal (RSR), liquid-assisted grinding (LAG), and crystallization from the melt phase. Two co-crystal phases of BDMC were obtained with pyrogallol (PYR), and hydroxyquinol (HYQ). PYR-BDMC co-crystals can be obtained only from the melt, while HYQ-BDMC co-crystals could also be produced by LAG. Both co-crystals possess an equimolar composition and reveal an incongruent melting behavior. Infrared spectroscopy demonstrated the presence of BDMC in the diketo form in the PYR co-crystals, while it is in a more stable keto-enol form in the HYQ co-crystals. Solubility measurements in ethanol and an ethanol-water mixture revealed an increase of solubility in the latter, but a slightly negative effect on ethanol solubility. These results are useful for a prospective development of crystallization-based separation processes of chemical similar substances through co-crystallization.