Exploring the formation of multiple layer hydrates for a complex pharmaceutical compound.

The pharmaceutical compound A, 3-{2-oxo-3-[3-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro[1,8]naphthyridin-2-yl)propyl]imidazolidin-1-yl}-3(S)-(6-methoxypyridin-3-yl)propionic acid, is known to exist in five different crystalline forms that differ in the hydration state ranging from the anhydrous desolvate over hemihydrate, dihydrate, and tetrahydrate forms to the pentahydrate. The formation of the higher hydrates and the concomitant lattice expansion leads to undesirable tablet cracking at higher humidities. In this work, particle-based simulation techniques are used to explore the hydrate formation of compound A as a function of humidity. It is found that a simulation strategy employing Monte Carlo simulations in the isobaric-isothermal and Gibbs ensembles and transferable force fields, which are not parametrized against any experimental data for compound A, is able to yield satisfactory crystal structures for the anhydrate and pentahydrate and to predict the existence of all five hydrates.

Ab initio structure determination of rofecoxib from powder diffraction data using molecular packing analysis method and direct space method.

Crystal structures of a COX-II inhibitor, rofecoxib (Vioxx) were solved ab initio from X-ray powder diffraction pattern using both molecular packing analysis and direct space methods. The X-ray powder pattern was indexed into a tetragonal cell. Packing energies were generated and analyzed in eight most frequently found tetragonal space groups. The two space groups with the lowest total energy, P4(1)2(1)2 and P4(3)2(1)2, were used for direct space method with a Monte-Carlo/Simulated Annealing searching algorithm. Structural solutions obtained from direct space method were evaluated using molecular packing energy analysis. The structures solved ab initio from this work were compared to the single crystal structure deposited in the Cambridge Structural Database.