Conformational variability of molecules in different crystal environments: a database study.

A methodology is described for analysing the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) in terms of molecular conformations. Molecular species that have more than a single occurrence across the complete CSD are identified, either as the sole crystal component or co-crystallized with other components. Cluster analysis, based on a root-mean-square fit of coordinates and chemical connectivity, is performed to identify conformational variance for each molecule. Results are analysed in terms of the number of discrete conformations observed versus the number of crystal environments and number of acyclic torsion angles in the molecule. Special subsets of environments are also analysed, namely polymorphs, co-crystals and solvates. In general, conformational diversity increases with an increasing number of different crystal environments and with an increasing number of flexible torsion angles. Overall, molecules with one or more acyclic flexible torsion angle are observed to exist in more than one conformation in ca 40% of cases. There is evidence that solvated molecules exhibit more conformational flexibility on average, compared with polymorphs and co-crystals.

Physical stability enhancement of theophylline via cocrystallization.

The crystal form adopted by the respiratory drug theophylline was modified using a crystal engineering strategy in order to search for a solid material with improved physical stability. Cocrystals, also referred to as crystalline molecular complexes, were prepared with theophylline and one of several dicarboxylic acids. Four cocrystals of theophylline are reported, one each with oxalic, malonic, maleic and glutaric acids. Crystal structures were obtained for each cocrystal material, allowing an examination of the hydrogen bonding and crystal packing features. The cocrystal design scheme was partly based upon a series of recently reported cocrystals of the molecular analogue, caffeine, and comparisons in packing features are drawn between the two cocrystal series. The theophylline cocrystals were subjected to relative humidity challenges in order to assess their stability in relation to crystalline theophylline anhydrate and the equivalent caffeine cocrystals. None of the cocrystals in this study converted into a hydrated cocrystal upon storage at high relative humidity. Furthermore, the theophylline:oxalic acid cocrystal demonstrated superior humidity stability to theophylline anhydrate under the conditions examined, while the other cocrystals appeared to offer comparable stability to that of theophylline anhydrate. The results demonstrate the feasibility of pharmaceutical cocrystal design based upon the crystallization preferences of a molecular analogue, and furthermore show that avoidance of hydrate formation and improvement in physical stability is possible via pharmaceutical cocrystallization.

Report of the working group on crystal phase identifiers.

The proposed crystalline phase identifier consists of a number of components (layers) describing enough properties of the phase to allow a unique identification. These layers consist of the chemical formula, a flag indicating the state of matter, the space-group number and the Wyckoff sequence. They are defined in such a way that they can be incorporated into the IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI) proposed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Parameterization of the close packing of molecules in the unit cell.

The box model of crystal packing describes unit cells in terms of a limited number of arrangements, or packing patterns, of molecular building blocks. Cell dimensions have been shown to relate to molecular dimensions in a systematic way. The distributions of pattern coefficients (cell length/molecular dimension) for thousands of structures belonging to P21/c, P1 , P212121, P21 and C2/c are presented and are shown to be entirely consistent with the box model of crystal packing. Contributions to the form of the histograms from molecular orientation and molecular overlap are discussed. Gaussian fitting of the histograms has led to the parameterization of close packing within the unit cell and it is shown that molecular crystal structures are very similar to one another at a fundamental level.

Retrieval of crystallographically-derived molecular geometry information.

The crystallographically determined bond length, valence angle, and torsion angle information in the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) has many uses. However, accessing it by means of conventional substructure searching requires nontrivial user intervention. In consequence, these valuable data have been underutilized and have not been directly accessible to client applications. The situation has been remedied by development of a new program (Mogul) for automated retrieval of molecular geometry data from the CSD. The program uses a system of keys to encode the chemical environments of fragments (bonds, valence angles, and acyclic torsions) from CSD structures. Fragments with identical keys are deemed to be chemically identical and are grouped together, and the distribution of the appropriate geometrical parameter (bond length, valence angle, or torsion angle) is computed and stored. Use of a search tree indexed on key values, together with a novel similarity calculation, then enables the distribution matching any given query fragment (or the distributions most closely matching, if an adequate exact match is unavailable) to be found easily and with no user intervention. Validation experiments indicate that, with rare exceptions, search results afford precise and unbiased estimates of molecular geometrical preferences. Such estimates may be used, for example, to validate the geometries of libraries of modeled molecules or of newly determined crystal structures or to assist structure solution from low-resolution (e.g. powder diffraction) X-ray data.

Distribution of molecular centres in unit cells with respect to packing patterns.

Packing patterns, a new description of the limited number of possible arrangements of molecular building blocks in a unit cell, were assigned to many thousands of structures belonging to the space groups P2(1)/c, P1(-), P2(1)2(1)2(1), P2(1) and C2/c. The position of the molecular centre (in fractional coordinates) in the unit cell for these structures has been surveyed, with respect to the space group and the packing pattern. The results clearly show that the position at which the molecular centre is found in the unit cell is correlated with the packing pattern. The relationships between the orientation of the packing pattern in the unit cell and the symmetry operators of the space group are explored. Popular orientations of packing patterns within the unit cell are given.

A new model of crystal packing.

A new, conceptually simple model of crystal packing is proposed which uses "packing patterns" to describe unit cells in terms of molecular building blocks.

Crystal structure prediction of small organic molecules: a second blind test.

The first collaborative workshop on crystal structure prediction (CSP1999) has been followed by a second workshop (CSP2001) held at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. The 17 participants were given only the chemical diagram for three organic molecules and were invited to test their prediction programs within a range of named common space groups. Several different computer programs were used, using the methodology wherein a molecular model is used to construct theoretical crystal structures in given space groups, and prediction is usually based on the minimum calculated lattice energy. A maximum of three predictions were allowed per molecule. The results showed two correct predictions for the first molecule, four for the second molecule and none for the third molecule (which had torsional flexibility). The correct structure was often present in the sorted low-energy lists from the participants but at a ranking position greater than three. The use of non-indexed powder diffraction data was investigated in a secondary test, after completion of the ab initio submissions. Although no one method can be said to be completely reliable, this workshop gives an objective measure of the success and failure of current methodologies.