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Discovery of a new polymorph of clotrimazole through melt crystallization: Understanding nucleation and growth kinetics.

Jie ZhangMinzhuo LiuMeixia XuZhiguo ChenXucong PengQiusheng YangTing CaiZhihong Zeng
Published in: The Journal of chemical physics (2023)
Clotrimazole (CMZ) is a classical antifungal drug for studying crystallization. In this study, a new CMZ polymorph (Form 2) was discovered during the process of nucleation and growth rate determination in the melt. High-quality single crystals were grown from melt microdroplets to determine the crystal structure by x-ray diffraction. Form 2 is metastable and exhibits a disordered structure. The crystal nucleation and growth kinetics of the two CMZ polymorphs were systematically measured. Form 2 nucleates and grows faster than the existing form (Form 1). The maximum nucleation rate of Forms 1 and 2 was observed at 50 °C (1.07 T g ). The summary of the maximum nucleation rate temperature of CMZ and the other six organic compounds indicates that nucleation near T g in the supercooled liquid is a useful approach to discovering new polymorphs. This study is relevant for the discovering new drug polymorphs through an understanding of nucleation and growth kinetics during melt crystallization.
Keyphrases
  • crystal structure
  • small molecule
  • high resolution
  • emergency department
  • magnetic resonance
  • computed tomography
  • ionic liquid
  • molecularly imprinted
  • contrast enhanced
  • tandem mass spectrometry
  • electron microscopy