Methimazole is an active pharmaceutical ingredient, which is commonly used as an imidazole antithyroid drug. Solubility research is one of the key steps affecting the crystal quality of methimazole, which can give essential fundamental data and theoretical guidance for its downstream industries, such as preparation form, storage, transportation and clinical application. Researchers have found that there are two crystal forms of methimazole, different crystal forms may result in differences in the efficacy, pharmacology, physicochemical properties, etc. Further supplementation and improvement are urgently needed regarding the solid–liquid equilibrium data, dissolution thermodynamic properties and dissolution mechanism of methimazole. In the present work, by using a gravimetric method, the solubility of methimazole (Form Ⅰ) in twelve selected mono-solvents including 2-propoxyethanol, isopropyl acetate, anisole, 2-ethoxyethanol, 1-hexanol, 1-pentanol, ethylene glycol, butyl acetate, 2-butoxyethanol, propyl acetate, 2-methoxyethanol and ethyl butyrate was investigated from 283.15 K to 323.15 K under pressure of 0.1 MPa. The regression result between solubility and temperature showed that they were positively correlated. At 298.15 K, the obtained mole fraction solubility of methimazole (Form Ⅰ) decreased as: 2-methoxyethanol (0.2203) > 2-ethoxyethanol (0.1766) > ethylene glycol (0.1432) > 2-propoxyethanol (0.1425) > 2-butoxyethanol (0.1268) > 1-pentanol (0.0394) > 1-hexanol (0.0349) > propyl acetate (0.0223) > butyl acetate (0.0195) > anisole (0.0176) > isopropyl acetate (0.0135) > ethyl butyrate (0.0120). The maximum solubility was found in 2-methoxyethanol at 323.15 K with the mole fraction solubility value of 0.2984, while the minimum obtained value was occurred in ethyl butyrate at 283.15 K with the mole fraction solubility of 0.00786. Besides, four thermodynamic nonlinear regression models including Yaws model, UNIQUAC model, Two-Suffix Margules model and NRTL-SAC model were used to correlate the experimental solubility of methimazole (Form Ⅰ). Furthermore, to further explore the dissolution mechanism of methimazole (Form Ⅰ) in the selected twelve target solvents, the HSPs, Hirshfeld surface analysis and dissolution thermodynamic properties were calculated and analyzed.The related research in this study is of great significance for understanding the solubility behavior and dissolution mechanism of methimazole Form I in the selective solvent system, which can provide foundation data for the optimization of its crystallization conditions. At the same time, this study is helpful to provide theoretical guidance for the research of other similar drugs.
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