Toward an Understanding of the Propensity for Crystalline Hydrate Formation by Molecular Compounds. Part 2.

The propensity of molecular organic compounds to form stoichiometric or nonstoichiometric crystalline hydrates remains a challenging aspect of crystal engineering and is of practical relevance to fields such as pharmaceutical science. In this work, we address the propensity for hydrate formation of a library of eight compounds comprised of 5- and 6-membered N-heterocyclic aromatics classified into three subgroups: linear dipyridyls, substituted Schiff bases, and tripodal molecules. Each molecular compound studied possesses strong hydrogen bond acceptors and is devoid of strong hydrogen bond donors. Four methods were used to screen for hydrate propensity using the anhydrate forms of the molecular compounds in our library: water slurry under ambient conditions, exposure to humidity, aqueous solvent drop grinding (SDG), and dynamic water vapor sorption (DVS). In addition, crystallization from mixed solvents was studied. Water slurry, aqueous SDG, and exposure to humidity were found to be the most effective methods for hydrate screening. Our study also involved a structural analysis using the Cambridge Structural Database, electrostatic potential (ESP) maps, full interaction maps (FIMs), and crystal packing motifs. The hydrate propensity of each compound studied was compared to a compound of the same type known to form a hydrate through a previous study of ours. Out of the eight newly studied compounds (herein numbered 4-11), three Schiff bases were observed to form hydrates. Three crystal structures (two hydrates and one anhydrate) were determined. Compound 6 crystallized as an isolated site hydrate in the monoclinic space group P21/a, while 7 and 10 crystallized in the monoclinic space group P21/c as a channel tetrahydrate and an anhydrate, respectively. Whereas we did not find any direct correlation between the number of H-bond acceptors and either hydrate propensity or the stoichiometry of the resulting hydrates, analysis of FIMs suggested that hydrates tend to form when the corresponding anhydrate structure does not facilitate intermolecular interactions.