The Importance of Polymorphism

The topic of polymorphism is of tremendous and increasing academic and industrial importance in modern crystal chemistry and crystal engineering. The industrial interest stems from the pharmaceutical industry and has stimulated wide-ranging academic study. Legally, a molecule (termed an active pharmaceutical ingredient, API) with particular biological activity in vivo can be patented as a new invention. Moreover, particular crystal forms of that molecule (polymorphs) can be separately patented as distinct inventions. If particular polymorphs are patented after the original API patent then upon the 

Although there was an earlier report by Mitscherlich in 1822 (E. Mitscherlich, Ann. Chim. Phys. 1822, 19, 350-419). 

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A polymorph is a solid crystalline phase of a compound resulting from the possibility of at least two different crystal lattice arrangements of that compound in the solid state [42], Polymorphs of a compound are, however, identical in the liquid and vapor states. They usually melt at different temperatures but give melts of identical composition. Two polymorphs of a compound may be as different in structure and properties as crystals of two different compounds [43,44], Apparent solubility, melting point, density, hardness, crystal shape, optical and electrical properties, vapor pressure, etc. may all vary with the polymorphic form. The polymorphs that are produced depend upon factors such as storage temperature, recrystallization solvent, and rate of cooling. Table 2 suggests the importance of polymorphism in the field of pharmaceutics [45],... 

The importance of polymorphism in pharmaceuticals cannot be overemphasized. Some crystal structures contain molecules of water or solvents, known as hydrates or solvates, respectively, and they are also called as pseudopolymorphs. Identifying all relevant polymorphs and solvates at an early stage of development for new chemical entities has become a well-accepted concept in pharmaceutical industry. For poorly soluble compounds, understanding their polymorphic behavior is even more important since solubility, crystal shape, dissolution rate, and bioavailability may vary with the polymorphic form. Conversion of a drug substance to a more thermodynamically stable form in the formulation can signiLcantly increase the development cost or even result in product failure. 

According to McCrone [46], a polymorph is a solid crystalline phase of a given compound resulting from the possibility of at least two or more different arrangements of the molecules of that compound in the solid state. Polymophs play an important role in a large variety of fields. Lahav and co-workers [47] have carried out very incisive studies on the control of nucleation and crystal polymophism using tailor-made auxiliaries. The importance of polymorphs to an organic solid-state photochemist is obvious. 

The importance of polymorphism within crystal engineering is substantial and in the area of pharmaceutical crystals has proven to be of great importance financially (Chapter 3.3). Studies using pressure as a variable have been applied recently to the studies of pharmaceutical or related compounds to explore more widely potential polymorphism in such compounds. The examples of glycine and paracetamol are discussed below. 

Moving beyond the details of what the compiler does, the importance of polymorphism is that it lets a programmer create powerful families of classes, in which each family member behaves differently, yet uniformly. Polymorphism means that you can count on an object, known only as a member of a family, to behave as it should when you call one of its virtual member functions. 

Over and above IP issues, polymorphism is of importance as different crystalline arrangements will naturally result in distinctive chemical and physical properties such as solubility, stability (shelf life), bioavailability, and so on. Important examples that underscore the importance of polymorphism and IP issues, are found in the... 

As mentioned above, an example where lattice control over the course of an organic solid state reaction is explicit is provided by the solid state photodimerization of trans-cinnamic acid and many of its derivatives.When irradiated in the melt or in solution, cinnamic acid derivatives do not dimerize — the presumed singlet photoexcited state being too short-lived for reaction in such mobile phases. The only consequence of irradiation is trans cis isomerization. Irradiation of crystalline solids, however, was found to result in one of three distinct events — and that which occurs found to depend upon the solvent of crystallization— see Scheme 6.1. The contribution of Schmidt, Cohen, and co-workers at the Weizmarm Institute in Israel was first to appreciate the importance of polymorphism and then to establish a direct correlation between the molecular packing within a particular polymorphic phase and the nature of the photodimer which results. ... 

Many molecules are obtained and used in a crystalline form, the nature of which can have e significant impact on their properties and behaviour. Moreover, it is sometimes possible foi a given material to exist in more than one crystalline form, depending upon the conditions under which it was prepared. This is the phenomenon of polymorphism. This can be important because the various polymorphs may themselves have different properties. It is Iberefore of interest to be able to predict the three-dimensional atomic structure(s) that a gi en molecule may adopt, for those cases where it is difficult to obtain experimental data and also where one might wish to prioritise molecules not yet synthesised. 

Another important pigment in this class is Pigment Red 170 [6985-95-17, which provides medium shades of red, and when particle-grown produces an opaque modification which shows improved migration resistance and lightfastness. Like some other Naphthol AS pigments it shows the phenomenon of polymorphism. 

Titanium Trichloride. Titanium trichloride [7705-07-9] exists in four different soHd polymorphs that have been much studied because of the importance of TiCl as a catalyst for the stereospecific polymerization of olefins (120,124). The a-, y-, and 5-forms are all violet and have close-packed layers of chlorines. The titaniums occupy the octahedral interstices between the layers. The three forms differ in the arrangement of the titaniums among the available octahedral sites. In a-TiCl, the chlorine sheets are hexagonaHy close-packed in y-TiCl, they are cubic close-packed. The brown P-form does not have a layer stmcture but, instead, consists of linear strands of titaniums, where each titanium is coordinated by three chlorines that act as a bridge to the next Ti The stmctural parameters are as follows ... 

Oxides of the actinides are refractory materials and, in fact, Th02 has the highest mp (3390°C) of any oxide. They have been extensively studied because of their importance as nuclear fuels. However, they are exceedingly complicated because of the prevalence of polymorphism, nonstoichiometry and intermediate phases. The simple stoichiometries quoted in Table 31.5 should therefore be regarded as idealized compositions. 

The importance of adenosine deaminase in the duration and intensity of sleep in humans has been noted recently (Retey et al. 2005). Animal studies suggest that sleep needs are genetically controlled, and this also seems to apply in humans. Probably, a genetic variant of adenosine deaminase, which is associated with the reduced metabolism of adenosine to inosine, specifically enhances deep sleep and slow wave activity during sleep. Thus low activity of the catabolic enzyme for adenosine results in elevated adenosine, and deep sleep. In contrast, insomnia patients could have a distinct polymorphism of more active adenosine deaminase resulting in less adenosine accumulation, insomnia, and a low threshold for anxiety. This could also explain interindividual differences in anxiety symptoms after caffeine intake in healthy volunteers. This could affect the EEG during sleep and wakefulness in a non-state-specific manner. 

The importance of temperature-controlled scanning calorimetry for measurements of heat capacity and of scanning transitiometry for simultaneous caloric and pVT analysis has been demonstrated for polymorphic systems [9]. This approach was used to study an enantiotropic system characterized by multiphase (and hindered) transitions, the role of heat capacity as a means to understand homogeneous nucleation, and the creation of (p, T) phase diagrams. The methodology was shown to possess distinct advantages over the more commonly used combination of characterization techniques. 

As SNP discovery technologies become mainstream research tools, the importance of genotype-phenotype relationships will continue to be a focus in pharma-cogenomic research. Not only will characterization of drug transporter polymorphisms enhance our insight of the molecular mechanisms involved in transporter function, it is likely that such findings will become important components of individualized drug therapy in the future. 

Recent studies focused on the importance of pharmacogenetic determinants of response in cancer patients. Screening of patients for polymorphic mutants of glutathione-S-transferase and thymidylate synthase has the potentiality to predict response and hence outcome of chemotherapy. 

The topics of polymorphism and pseudopolymorphism dominate the majority of publications that deal with utilizing infrared spectroscopy for the physical characterization of pharmaceutical solids. Typically, in each of the publications, IR spectroscopy is only one technique used to characterize the various physical forms. It is important to realize that a multidisciplinary approach must be taken for the complete physical characterization of a pharmaceutical solid. Besides polymorphism, mid- and near-IR have been utilized for identity testing at the bulk and formulated product level, contaminant analysis, and drug-excipient interactions. A number of these applications will be highlighted within the next few sections. 

The use of solid state NMR for the investigation of polymorphism is easily understood based on the following model. If a compound exists in two, true polymorphic forms, labeled as A and B, each crystalline form is conformationally different. This means for instance, that a carbon nucleus in form A may be situated in a slightly different molecular geometry compared with the same carbon nucleus in form B. Although the connectivity of the carbon nucleus is the same in each form, the local environment may be different. Since the local environment may be different, this leads to a different chemical shift interaction for each carbon, and ultimately, a different isotropic chemical shift for the same carbon atom in the two different polymorphic forms. If one is able to obtain pure material for the two forms, analysis and spectral assignment of the solid state NMR spectra of the two forms can lead to the origin of the conformational differences in the two polymorphs. Solid state NMR is thus an important tool in conjunction with thermal analysis, optical microscopy, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and powder... 

The importance of framework density and molar volume is evident also for large pore, mesoporous silica [33] and for AIPO4 polymorphs [34], Data for the latter are included in Figure 7.19. For mesoporous silica a transition from a regime where cages and pores affects the energetics to one in which the large pores act as inert diluent is reported. A further increase in pore diameter does not appear to increase the enthalpy of the compound [33], The similarity in enthalpy of many different structures shows that the synthesis of metastable microporous framework... 

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