Curcumin is the major phenolic diarylheptane derivative in Curcuma longa and has been reported to possess pharmacological activities. Unfortunately this compound suffers from poor bioavailability and rapid neutral-alkaline degradation. Co-crystal of curcumin is one option under exploration, motivated by the fact that a number of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) co-crystals with improved dissolution have recently been synthesized. Hence, co-crystallization technique highlights an alternative means to improve the performance of curcumin. Within our work evidences for a co-crystal was ascertained from DSC, Kofler hot stage screening and PXRD, and all confirmed a new crystal phase could have been formed between curcumin and a co-crystallizing agent, nicotinamide. We report that re-crystallization step essentially aids the purification of commercial curcumin, a herbal based actives. Otherwise the prevalence of a new crystal phase in solvent-mediated co-crystallization will be significantly reduced. Besides, phase diagram is an effective tool for the study of solubility behaviours in co-crystal system. In order to acquire related techniques, fenbufen, a poorly water soluble drug, was selected. The result showed the huge difference in solubility between fenbufen and nicotinamide lead to difficulty in the construction of phase diagram.

This project utilised a novel solvent-free continuous cocrystallisation (SFCC) method to manufacture pharmaceutical co-crystals. The objectives were to optimize the process towards achieving high co-crystal yields and to understand the behaviour of co-crystals under different conditions. Particular attention was paid to the development of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a process analytical technology (PAT). Twin screw, hot melt extrusion was the base technique of the SFCC process. Changing parameters such as temperature, screw speed and screw geometry was important for improving the co-crystal yield. The level of mixing and shear was directly influenced by the screw geometry, whilst the screw speed was an important parameter for controlling the residence time of the material during hot melt extrusion. Ibuprofen – nicotinamide 1:1 cocrystals and carbamazepine – nicotinamide 1:1 co-crystals were successfully manufactured using the SFCC method. Characterisation techniques were important for this project, and NIR spectroscopy proved to be a convenient, accurate analytical technique for identifying the formation of co-crystals along the extruder barrel. Separate thermal and model shear deformation studies were also carried out to determine the effect of temperature and shear on co-crystal formation for several different pharmaceutical co-crystal pairs. Finally, NIR spectroscopy was used to create two partial least squares regression models, for predicting the 1:1 co-crystal yield of ibuprofen – nicotinamide and carbamazepine – nicotinamide, when in a powder mixture with the respective pure API. It is believed that the prediction models created in this project can be used to facilitate future in-line PAT studies of pharmaceutical co-crystals during different manufacturing processes. / Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

The thesis entitled “Structure-function control in organic co-crystals/salts via studies on polymorphism, phase transitions and stoichiometric variants” consists of five chapters. The main emphasis of the thesis is on two aspects, one to characterize co-crystal polymorphism in terms of propensity of intermolecular interactions to form co-crystals/salts or eutectics. The other aspect is to explore the feasibility of using such co-crystals/salts to exhibit properties like proton conduction, dielectric and ferroelectric behaviour. Gallic acid and its analogues possess functionalities to provide extensive hydrogen bonding capabilities and are chosen as the main component while the coformers are carefully selected such that they either accept or reject the hydrogen bonding offered. Such co-crystallization experiments therefore provide an opportunity to unravel the intricate details of the formation of crystalline polymorphs and/or eutectics at the molecular level. Further these co-crystal systems have been exploited to evaluate proton conductivity, dielectric and ferroelectric features since the focus is also on the design aspect of functional materials. In the context of identifying and utilizing Crystal Engineering tools, the discussions in the following chapters address not only the structural details but identify the required patterns and motifs to enable the design of multi-component co-crystals/salts and eutectics. In particular, the presence/absence of lattice water in gallic acid has been evaluated in terms of importing the required physical property to the system. Chapter 1 discusses the structural features of tetramorphic anhydrous co-crystals (1:1; which are synthon polymorphs) generated from a methanolic solution of gallic acid monohydrate and acetamide, all of which convert to a stable form on complete drying. The pathway to the stable form (1:3 co-crystal) is explained based on the variability in the hydrogen bonding patterns followed by lattice energy calculations. Chapter 2A studies the presence/absence and geometric disposition of hydroxyl functionality on hydroxybenzoic acids to drive the formation of co-crystal/eutectic in imide-carboxylic acid combinations. In Chapter 2B the crystal form diversity of gallic acid-succinimide co-crystals are evaluated with major implications towards the design and control of targeted multi-component crystal forms. The co-crystal obtained in this study shows a rare phenomenon of concomitant solvation besides concomitant polymorphism and thus making it difficult to obtain a phase-pure crystal form in bulk quantity. This issue has been resolved and formation of desired target solid form is demonstrated. Thus, this study addresses the nemesis issues of co-crystallization with implications in comprehending the kinetics and thermodynamics of the phenomenon in the goal of making desired materials. Chapter 3 focuses on the systematic co-crystallization of hydroxybenzoic acids with hexamine using liquid assisted grinding (LAG) which show facile solid state interconversion among different stoichiometric variants. The reversible interconversion brought about by varying both the acid and base components in tandem is shown to be a consequence of hydrogen bonded synthon modularity present in the crystal structures analyzed in this context. In Chapter 4A, the rationale for the proton conduction in hydrated/anhydrous salt/co-crystal of gallic acid - isoniazid is provided in terms of the structural characteristics and the conduction pathway is identified to follow Grotthuss like mechanism which is supplemented by theoretical calculations. Chapter 4B describes an extensive examination of the hydrated salt of gallic acid-isoniazid which unravels the irreversible nature of the dielectric property upon dehydration and suggests that the “ferroelectric like” behaviour is indeed not authenticated. This chapter brings out the significance role of lattice water in controlling the resulting physical property (dielectric/ferroelectric in this case). Chapter 5 describes the structural features of two hydrated quaternary salts of hydroxybenzoic acids-isoniazid-sulfuric acid and the phase transitions at both low and high temperatures are shown to be reversible. Single Crystal to Single Crystal (SCSC) in situ measurement corroborated by thermal and in situ Powder X-ray Diffraction studies proves the claim. Further, the properties exhibited by these materials are also governed by lattice water content.