Utilization of pure nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy for the study of pharmaceutical crystal forms.

Solid-state physical characterization of a pharmaceutical substance is necessary for successful development and approval of the final product. Different physical analytical techniques are available to do so: X-ray diffraction (XRD), IR, Raman, DSC, TG and NMR. Moreover, all of them detect the presence of excipients perturbing the analysis of the pure substance in low doses. In order to study polymorphism and pseudo polymorphism of drug, this paper introduces possible applications of pure nuclear quadrupole resonance, as a non-destructive technique in qualitative and quantitative approaches. Chlorpropamide and diclofenac sodium were used as examples. Unlike the mentioned techniques, the nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) signal of pharmaceutical compounds is not perturbed by the presence of solid excipient or other substances unless they possess resonance frequencies in the same frequency range of the compound studied.

Photodegradation and in vitro phototoxicity of the antidiabetic drug chlorpropamide.

Methanolic solutions of the phototoxic antidiabetic drug chlorpropamide (CAS 94-20-2, 1) are photolabile towards UVB light under aerobic conditions. Irradiation of 1 produces the formation of the stable compounds p-chlorobenzenesulfonamide (2), N-(p-chlorophenylsulfonyl)formamide (3) and the dimer 4. A radical intermediate was evidenced by thiobarbituric acid that was used as a radical sonde, as well as by the dimerization of cysteine. The compound 1 showed moderate lytic activity upon the photohemolysis in vitro test on human erythrocytes which was increased with the addition of traces of its aggregate excipient. Inhibition of this process on addition of reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) or ascorbic acid suggests the involvement of radicals and superoxide ion in the photohemolysis process. The absence of inhibition with 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) and sodium azide (NaN3), and the lack of formation of singlet oxygen during the photolysis (confirmed with 2,5-dimethylfuran) rule out the possibility of participation of 1O2 in this process. Glutathione depletion was also observed. No photohemolysis was detected in the presence of the isolated photoproduct.