No / A crystal ball? A new method for crystal structure prediction combines a tailor-made force field with a density functional theory method incorporating a van der Waals correction for dispersive interactions. In a blind test, the method predicts the correct crystal structure for all four compounds, one of which is a cocrystal. The picture shows the predicted structure of one of the compounds in green and the experimental structure in blue.

Yes / The creation of co-crystals as a route to creating new pharmaceutical phases with modified or defined physicochemical properties is an area of intense research. Much of the current research has focused on creating new phases for numerous active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to alter physical properties such as low solubilities, enhancing processability or stability. Such studies have identified suitable co-formers and common bonding motifs to aid with the design of new co-crystals but understanding how the changes in the molecular structure of the components are reflected in the packing and resulting properties is still lacking. This lack of insight means that the design and growth of new co-crystals is still a largely empirical process with co-formers selected and then attempts to grow the different materials undertaken to evaluate the resulting properties. This work will report on the results of a combination of crystal structure database analysis with computational chemistry studies to identify what structural features are retained across a selection of families of co-crystals with common components. The competition between different potential hydrogen bonding motifs was evaluated using ab initio quantum mechanical calculations and this was related to the commonality in the packing motifs when observed. It is found while the stronger local bonding motifs are often retained within systems, the balance of weaker long-range packing forces gives rise to many subtle shifts in packing leading to greater challenges in the prediction of final crystal structures.

A molecule can crystallise in more than one crystal structure, a common phenomenon in organic compounds known as polymorphism. Different polymorphic forms may have significantly different physical properties, and a reliable prediction would be beneficial to the pharmaceutical industry. However, crystal structure prediction (CSP) based on the knowledge of the chemical structure had long been considered impossible. Previous failures of some CSP attempts led to speculation that the thermodynamic calculations in CSP methodologies failed to predict the kinetically favoured structures. Similarly, regarding the stabilities of co-crystals relative to their pure components, the results from lattice energy calculations and full CSP studies were inconclusive. In this thesis, these problems are addressed using the state-of-the-art CSP methodology implemented in the GRACE software. Firstly, it is shown that the low-energy predicted structures of four organic molecules, which have previously been considered difficult for CSP, correspond to their experimental structures. The possible outcomes of crystallisation can be reliably predicted by sufficiently accurate thermodynamic calculations. Then, the polymorphism of 5- chloroaspirin is investigated theoretically. The order of polymorph stability is predicted correctly and the isostructural relationships between a number of predicted structures and the experimental structures of other aspirin derivatives are established. Regarding the stabilities of co-crystals, 99 out of 102 co-crystals and salts of nicotinamide, isonicotinamide and picolinamide reported in the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) are found to be more stable than their corresponding co-formers. Finally, full CSP studies of two co-crystal systems are conducted to explain why the co-crystals are not easily obtained experimentally.

Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich mit der theoretischen Vorhersage neuer Materialien. Ein evolutionärer Algorithmus, der zur Lösung dieses globalen Optimierungsproblems Konzepte der natürlichen Evolution imitiert, wurde entwickelt und ist als Programmpaket EVO frei verfügbar. EVO findet zuverlässig sowohl bekannte als auch neuartige Kristallstrukturen. Beispielsweise wurden die Strukturen von Germaniumnitrofluorid, einer neue Borschicht und mit dem gekreuzten Graphen einer bisher unbekannte Kohlenstoffstruktur gefunden. Ferner wurde in der Arbeit gezeigt, dass das reine Auffinden solcher Strukturen der erste Teil einer erfolgreichen Vorhersage ist. Weitere aufwendige Berechnungen sind nötig, die Aufschluss über die Stabilität der hypothetischen Struktur geben und Aussagen über zu erwartende Materialeigenschaften liefern.

A molecule can crystallise in more than one crystal structure, a common phenomenon in organic compounds known as polymorphism. Different polymorphic forms may have significantly different physical properties, and a reliable prediction would be beneficial to the pharmaceutical industry. However, crystal structure prediction (CSP) based on the knowledge of the chemical structure had long been considered impossible. Previous failures of some CSP attempts led to speculation that the thermodynamic calculations in CSP methodologies failed to predict the kinetically favoured structures. Similarly, regarding the stabilities of co-crystals relative to their pure components, the results from lattice energy calculations and full CSP studies were inconclusive. In this thesis, these problems are addressed using the state-of-the-art CSP methodology implemented in the GRACE software. Firstly, it is shown that the low-energy predicted structures of four organic molecules, which have previously been considered difficult for CSP, correspond to their experimental structures. The possible outcomes of crystallisation can be reliably predicted by sufficiently accurate thermodynamic calculations. Then, the polymorphism of 5- chloroaspirin is investigated theoretically. The order of polymorph stability is predicted correctly and the isostructural relationships between a number of predicted structures and the experimental structures of other aspirin derivatives are established. Regarding the stabilities of co-crystals, 99 out of 102 co-crystals and salts of nicotinamide, isonicotinamide and picolinamide reported in the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) are found to be more stable than their corresponding co-formers. Finally, full CSP studies of two co-crystal systems are conducted to explain why the co-crystals are not easily obtained experimentally. / University of Bradford

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Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich mit der theoretischen Vorhersage neuer Materialien. Ein evolutionärer Algorithmus, der zur Lösung dieses globalen Optimierungsproblems Konzepte der natürlichen Evolution imitiert, wurde entwickelt und ist als Programmpaket EVO frei verfügbar. EVO findet zuverlässig sowohl bekannte als auch neuartige Kristallstrukturen. Beispielsweise wurden die Strukturen von Germaniumnitrofluorid, einer neue Borschicht und mit dem gekreuzten Graphen einer bisher unbekannte Kohlenstoffstruktur gefunden. Ferner wurde in der Arbeit gezeigt, dass das reine Auffinden solcher Strukturen der erste Teil einer erfolgreichen Vorhersage ist. Weitere aufwendige Berechnungen sind nötig, die Aufschluss über die Stabilität der hypothetischen Struktur geben und Aussagen über zu erwartende Materialeigenschaften liefern.

No description available.

This work concerns the interrelationship between thermodynamic, kinetic and structural aspects of crystal polymorphism. It is both experimental and theoretical, and limited with respect to compounds to substituted monocyclic aromatics. Two polymorphs of the compound m-aminobenzoic acid have been experimentally isolated and characterized by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and optical microscopy. In addition, two polymorphs of the compound m-hydroxybenzoic acid have been isolated and characterized by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, high-temperature XRPD, confocal Raman, hot-stage and scanning electron microscopy. For all polymorphs, melting properties and specific heat capacity have been determined calorimetrically, and the solubility in several pure solvents measured at different temperatures with a gravimetric method. The solid-state activity (ideal solubility), and the free energy, enthalpy and entropy of fusion have been determined as functions of temperature for all solid phases through a thermodynamic analysis of multiple experimental data. It is shown that m-aminobenzoic acid is an enantiotropic system, with a stability transition point determined to be located at approximately 156°C, and that the difference in free energy at room temperature between the polymorphs is considerable. It is further shown that m-hydroxybenzoic acid is a monotropic system, with minor differences in free energy, enthalpy and entropy. 1393 primary nucleation experiments have been carried out for both compounds in different series of repeatability experiments, differing with respect to solvent, cooling rate, saturation temperature and solution preparation and pre-treatment. It is found that in the vast majority of experiments, either the stable or the metastable polymorph is obtained in the pure form, and only for a few evaluated experimental conditions does one polymorph crystallize in all experiments. The fact that the polymorphic outcome of a crystallization is the result of the interplay between relative thermodynamic stability and nucleation kinetics, and that it is vital to perform multiple experiments under identical conditions when studying nucleation of polymorphic compounds, is strongly emphasized by the results of this work. The main experimental variable which in this work has been found to affect which polymorph will preferentially crystallize is the solvent. For m-aminobenzoic acid, it is shown how a significantly metastable polymorph can be obtained by choosing a solvent in which nucleation of the stable form is sufficiently obstructed. For m-hydroxybenzoic acid, nucleation of the stable polymorph is promoted in solvents where the solubility is high. It is shown how this partly can be rationalized by analysing solubility data with respect to temperature dependence. By crystallizing solutions differing only with respect to pre-treatment and which polymorph was dissolved, it is found that the immediate thermal and structural history of a solution can have a significant effect on nucleation, affecting the predisposition for overall nucleation as well as which polymorph will preferentially crystallize. A set of polymorphic crystal structures has been compiled from the Cambridge Structural Database. It is found that statistically, about 50% crystallize in the crystallographic space group P21/c. Furthermore, it is found that crystal structures of polymorphs tend to differ significantly with respect to either hydrogen bond network or molecular conformation. Molecular mechanics based Monte Carlo simulated annealing has been used to sample different potential crystal structures corresponding to minima in potential energy with respect to structural degrees of freedom, restricted to one space group, for each of the polymorphic compounds. It is found that all simulations result in very large numbers of predicted structures. About 15% of the predicted structures have excess relative lattice energies of &lt;=10% compared to the most stable predicted structure; a limit verified to reflect maximum lattice energy differences between experimentally observed polymorphs of similar compounds. The number of predicted structures is found to correlate to molecular weight and to the number of rotatable covalent bonds. A close study of two compounds has shown that predicted structures tend to belong to different groups defined by unique hydrogen bond networks, located in well-defined regions in energy/packing space according to the close-packing principle. It is hypothesized that kinetic effects in combination with this structural segregation might affect the number of potential structures that can be realized experimentally. The experimentally determined crystal structures of several compounds have been geometry-optimized (relaxed) to the nearest potential energy minimum using ten different combinations of common potential energy functions (force fields) and techniques for assigning nucleus-centred point charges used in the electrostatic description of the energy. Changes in structural coordinates upon relaxation have been quantified, crystal lattice energies calculated and compared with experimentally determined enthalpies of sublimation, and the energy difference before and after relaxation computed and analysed. It is found that certain combinations of force fields and charge assignment techniques work reasonably well for modelling crystal structures of small aromatics, provided that proper attention is paid to electrostatic description and to how the force field was parameterized. A comparison of energy differences for randomly packed as well as experimentally determined crystal structures before and after relaxation suggests that the potential energy function for the solid state of a small organic molecule is highly undulating with many deep, narrow and steep minima. / QC 20110527