Issue 41, 2023

Unveiling polyamorphism and polyamorphic interconversions in pharmaceuticals: the peculiar case of hydrochlorothiazide

Abstract

Polyamorphism has been a controversial and highly debated solid-state phenomenon in both material and pharmaceutical communities. Although some evidence of this fascinating phenomenon has been reported for several inorganic systems, and more recently also for a few organic compounds, the occurrence of polyamorphism is poorly understood and the molecular-level organization of polyamorphic forms is still unknown. Here we have investigated the occurrence of polyamorphism and polyamorphic interconversions in hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), using both experimental and computational methods. Three distinct HCT polyamorphs, presenting distinct physical and thermal stabilities as well as distinct relaxation properties, were systematically prepared using spray-drying (SD), quench-cooling (QC) and ball milling (BM) methods. HCT polyamorph II (obtained by QC) was found to be more physically stable than polyamorphs I and III (obtained by SD and BM, respectively). Furthermore, polyamorphs I and III could be converted into polyamorph II after QC, while polyamorph II did not convert to any other polyamorph after SD or BM. Molecular dynamics simulations show that HCT dihedral angle distributions are significantly different for polyamorphs I and II, which is postulated as a possible explanation for their different physicochemical properties.

Graphical abstract: Unveiling polyamorphism and polyamorphic interconversions in pharmaceuticals: the peculiar case of hydrochlorothiazide

Supplementary files

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Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
02 Jūn. 2023
Accepted
22 Sept. 2023
First published
28 Sept. 2023
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 11447-11455

Unveiling polyamorphism and polyamorphic interconversions in pharmaceuticals: the peculiar case of hydrochlorothiazide

I. C. B. Martins, A. S. Larsen, A. Ø. Madsen, O. A. Frederiksen, A. Correia, K. M. Ø. Jensen, H. S. Jeppesen and T. Rades, Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 11447 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC02802J

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