Molecular dynamics at ambient and elevated pressure of the amorphous pharmaceutical: nonivamide (pelargonic acid vanillylamide).

ABSTRACT

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy was employed to investigate the relaxation dynamics of supercooled and glassy nonivamide-the synthetic form of capsaicin being the most spicy-hot substance known to man. The material is of great importance in the pharmaceutical industry because it has wide usage in the medical field for relief of pain, and more recently it has been shown to be effective in fighting cancers. Dielectric measurements carried out at various isobaric and isothermal conditions (pressure up to 400 MPa) revealed very narrow α-loss peak and unresolved secondary relaxations appearing in the form of an excess wing on the high frequency flank. Moreover, our studies have shown the shape of dielectric loss spectrum at any fixed loss peak frequency is invariant to different combinations of temperature and pressure, i.e., validity of the time-temperature-pressure superpositioning. We also found the fragility index is nearly constant on varying pressure. This property is likely due to the unusual structure of nonivamide, which has a part characteristic of van der Waals glass-former and another part characteristic of hydrogen-bonded glass-former.