A molecular salt combined with the fluoroquinolone antibacterial gatifloxacin (GAT) and the sulfonamides antibacterial sulfamerazine (SMZ) is designed and synthesized successfully, which is the first report of the dual-drug cocrystallization of gatifloxacin. The precise structure of the acquired molecule salt GAT-SMZ has been characterized via single crystal X-ray diffraction and other techniques. Single crystal diffraction analysis displays that due to the transfer of protons from SMZ to GAT, the molecular salt of GAT-SMZ is formed, and the supramolecular network is dominated by charge-assisted one-dimensional hydrogen bond chain and two-dimensional accumulation layer in the crystal. Such structural feature endows molecular salt with superior physicochemical properties, including enhanced solubility and permeability. More importantly, the superior pharmaceutical performances of the dual-drug salt resulted in enhanced antibacterial activity against the tested strains. These observations are strongly supported by theoretical studies based on Hirshfeld surface and molecular docking analyses. Thus, this contribution not only highlights the validity of combining theory with experiment to drive the problem of physicochemical properties of drugs through co-crystallization methods, but also fills in the previous studies gatifloxacin dual-drug salt synergistic antibacterial research blank.
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