Natural abundance (14)N and (15)N solid-state NMR of pharmaceuticals and their polymorphs.

(14)N ultra-wideline (UW), (1)H{(15)N} indirectly-detected HETCOR (idHETCOR) and (15)N dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) solid-state NMR (SSNMR) experiments, in combination with plane-wave density functional theory (DFT) calculations of (14)N EFG tensors, were utilized to characterize a series of nitrogen-containing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including HCl salts of scopolamine, alprenolol, isoprenaline, acebutolol, dibucaine, nicardipine, and ranitidine. A case study applying these methods for the differentiation of polymorphs of bupivacaine HCl is also presented. All experiments were conducted upon samples with naturally-abundant nitrogen isotopes. For most of the APIs, it was possible to acquire frequency-stepped UW (14)N SSNMR spectra of stationary samples, which display powder patterns corresponding to pseudo-tetrahedral (i.e., RR'R''NH(+) and RR'NH2(+)) or other (i.e., RNH2 and RNO2) nitrogen environments. Directly-excited (14)N NMR spectra were acquired using the WURST-CPMG pulse sequence, which incorporates WURST (wideband, uniform rate, and smooth truncation) pulses and a CPMG (Carr-Purcell Meiboom-Gill) refocusing protocol. In certain cases, spectra were acquired using (1)H → (14)N broadband cross-polarization, via the BRAIN-CP (broadband adiabatic inversion - cross polarization) pulse sequence. These spectra provide (14)N electric field gradient (EFG) tensor parameters and orientations that are particularly sensitive to variations in local structure and intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions. The (1)H{(15)N} idHETCOR spectra, acquired under conditions of fast magic-angle spinning (MAS), used CP transfers to provide (1)H-(15)N chemical shift correlations for all nitrogen environments, except for two sites in acebutolol and nicardipine. One of these two sites (RR'NH2(+) in acebutolol) was successfully detected using the DNP-enhanced (15)N{(1)H} CP/MAS measurement, and one (RNO2 in nicardipine) remained elusive due to the absence of nearby protons. This exploratory study suggests that this combination of techniques has great potential for the characterization of solid APIs and numerous other organic, biological, and inorganic systems.

Rapid acquisition of 14N solid-state NMR spectra with broadband cross polarization.

Nitrogen is an element of utmost importance in chemistry, biology and materials science. Of its two NMR-active isotopes, (14)N and (15)N, solid-state NMR (SSNMR) experiments are rarely conducted upon the former, due to its low gyromagnetic ratio (γ) and broad powder patterns arising from first-order quadrupolar interactions. In this work, we propose a methodology for the rapid acquisition of high quality (14)N SSNMR spectra that is easy to implement, and can be used for a variety of nitrogen-containing systems. We demonstrate that it is possible to dramatically enhance (14)N NMR signals in spectra of stationary, polycrystalline samples (i.e., amino acids and active pharmaceutical ingredients) by means of broadband cross polarization (CP) from abundant nuclei (e.g., (1)H). The BRoadband Adiabatic INversion Cross-Polarization (BRAIN-CP) pulse sequence is combined with other elements for efficient acquisition of ultra-wideline SSNMR spectra, including Wideband Uniform-Rate Smooth-Truncation (WURST) pulses for broadband refocusing, Carr-Purcell Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) echo trains for T2-driven S/N enhancement, and frequency-stepped acquisitions. The feasibility of utilizing the BRAIN-CP/WURST-CPMG sequence is tested for (14)N, with special consideration given to (i) spin-locking integer spin nuclei and maintaining adiabatic polarization transfer, and (ii) the effects of broadband polarization transfer on the overlapping satellite transition patterns. The BRAIN-CP experiments are shown to provide increases in signal-to-noise ranging from four to ten times and reductions of experimental times from one to two orders of magnitude compared to analogous experiments where (14)N nuclei are directly excited. Furthermore, patterns acquired with this method are generally more uniform than those acquired with direct excitation methods. We also discuss the proposed method and its potential for probing a variety of chemically distinct nitrogen environments.