Polymorph screening: Influence of solvents on the rate of solvent-mediated polymorphic transformation

✍ Scribed by Chong-Hui Gu; Victor Young Jr.; David J.W. Grant

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 290 KB
• Volume: 90
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3549
• DOI: 10.1002/jps.1137

✦ Synopsis

Solvent-mediated polymorphic transformation is an ef®cient technique to obtain the most stable polymorph. The rate of solvent-mediated polymorphic transformation of sulfamerazine at 248C in various solvents and solvent mixtures is controlled by the nucleation rate of the more stable Form II. The transformation rate is generally higher in the solvent giving a higher solubility and is low in the solvent giving a low solubility (8 mmol/L). In these solvents, because of a high interfacial energy, the metastable zone may be wider than the solubility difference between two polymorphs, such that the critical free energy barrier for nucleation cannot be overcome. In addition to the solubility, the strength of the solvent-solute interactions is also important in determining the transformation rate. For sulfamerazine, the transformation rate is lower in the solvent with a stronger hydrogen bond acceptor propensity. Because solubility is higher in the solvent with stronger hydrogen bond acceptor propensity, the balance of solubility and strength of hydrogen bonding interactions between the solute and solvent molecules determines the polymorphic transformation rate. Degree of agitation and temperature also change the polymorphic transformation rate by in¯uencing the crystallization kinetics of the more stable polymorph.