A review on cocrystal of active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine

In the development of new drugs products,especially the development of traditional Chinese medicine active ingredients,solubility and oral bioavailability are the main factors which are restricting the development of new drugs,whereas the physicochemical properties of active ingredients are the key element to affecting these factors.Pharmaceutical cocrystal provides an excellent opportunity to develop new drugs with excellent physical and chemical properties such as melting point,solubility,stability and bioavailability while retaining the pharmacological properties of individuals active pharmaceutical ingredients among pharmaceutical cocrystal compounds.Traditional Chinese herbal medicine has the characteristics of multiple pathways and multiple targets,mainly because it contains many active ingredients,like cocrystals thereof with many components.The active ingredients extracted from traditional Chinese herbal medicine have a wide range of pharmacological activities,but most of the active ingredients affect the development of traditional Chinese medicine active ingredients due to their physical and chemical properties such as solubility.Traditional Chinese medicine pharmaceutical cocrystals can not only improve the physical and chemical properties of drugs without changing the internal structure of drugs,so as to provide a new scheme for the development of traditional Chinese medicine active ingredients.This paper reviews the research progress of active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine pharmaceutical cocrystal.The preparation methods of cocrystals are summarized and the advantages of cocrystals are illustrated with examples.

Studies on ammonium dinitramide and 3,4-diaminofurazan cocrystal for tuning the hygroscopicity

Ammonium dinitramide(ADN)is a promising oxidizer with high energy characteristic,which is a relatively new environmentally friendly oxidizer without halogens and carbon elements.However,ADN has high hygroscopicity when exposed to high humidity air,restricting its applications on the solid propellants.In this paper,a novel energetic cocrystal composed of ammonium dinitramide and 3,4-diaminofurazan(DAF)was proposed and successfully synthesized by antisolvent crystallization method,and the properties of the cocrystal were systematically investigated by analytical characterization and theoretical simulation calculations.The formation of the cocrystal was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction,differential scanning calorimetry,scanning electron microscopy,infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy,indicating that the synthesized product was a cocrystal.Through theoretical studies,the ADN/DAF cocrystal structure was predicted,and the powder X-ray diffraction,morphology,water sorption capacity of ADN/DAF cocrystal were calculated,which was consistent with experimental phenomena.The results showed that newly prepared cocrystal of ADN/DAF had lower hygroscopicity compared to pure ADN,and the water sorption capacity was reduced from 15.35%to 7.90%.This may be due to the formation of N-H…O medium-strength hydrogen bonds between the ammonium ion of ADN and the O atom of DAF in the cocrystal,which prevents the binding of water molecules in the air and ammonium ions and reduces the probability of ADN binding to water molecules,leading to the reduction of cocrystal hygroscopicity.The newly prepared energetic cocrystal can provide theoretical and technical guidance for the study of the anti-hygroscopicity of ADN and advance the practical application of ADN.

Optimized solubility and bioavailability of genistein based on cocrystal engineering

With various potential health-promoting bioactivities,genistein has great prospects in treatment of a series of complex diseases and metabolic syndromes such as cancer,diabetes,cardiovascular diseases,menopausal symptoms and so on.However,poor solubility and unsatisfactory bioavailability seriously limits its clinical application and market development.To optimize the solubility and bioavailability of genistein,the cocrystal of genistein and piperazine was prepared by grinding assisted with solvent based on the concept of cocrystal engineering.Using a series of analytical techniques including single-crystal X-ray diffraction,powder X-ray diffraction,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis,the cocrystal was characterized and confirmed.Then,structure analysis on the basis of theoretical calculation and a series of evaluation on the stability,dissolution and bioavailability were carried out.The results indicated that the cocrystal of genistein and piperazine improved the solubility and bioavailability of genistein.Compared with the previous studies on the cocrystal of genistein,this is a systematic and comprehensive investigation from the aspects of preparation,characterization,structural analysis,stability,solubility and bioavailability evaluation.As a simple,efficient and green approach,cocrystal engineering can pave a new path to optimize the pharmaceutical properties of natural products for successful drug formulation and delivery.

A nano-cocrystal strategy to improve the dissolution rate and oral bioavailability of baicalein

Baicalein(BE) is one of the main active flavonoids representing the variety of pharmacological effects including anticancer, anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular protective activities, but it's very low solubility, dissolution rate and poor oral absorption limit the therapeutic applications. In this work, a nano-cocrystal strategy was successfully applied to improve the dissolution rate and bioavailability of BE. Baicalein-nicotinamide(BE-NCT) nanococrystals were prepared by high pressure homogenization and evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. Physical characterization results including scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, powder X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry demonstrated that BE-NCT nano-cocrystals were changed into amorphous state with mean particle size of 251.53 nm. In the dissolution test, the BE-NCT nano-cocrystals performed 2.17-fold and 2.54-fold enhancement than BE coarse powder in FaSSIF-V2 and FaSSGF. Upon oral administration, the integrated AUC0-t of BE-NCT nano-cocrystals(6.02-fold) was significantly higher than BE coarse powder(1-fold), BE-NCT cocrystals(2.87-fold) and BE nanocrystals(3.32-fold). Compared with BE coarse powder, BE-NCT cocrystals and BE nanocrystals, BENCT nano-cocrystals possessed excellent performance both in vitro and in vivo evaluations.Thus, it can be seen that nano-cocrystal is an appropriate novel strategy for improving dissolution rate and bioavailability of poor soluble natural products such as BE.

Drug-drug cocrystals:Opportunities and challenges

Recently,drug-drug cocrystal attracts more and more attention.It offers a low risk,low-cost but high reward route to new and better medicines and could improve the physiochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of a medicine by addition of a suitable therapeutically effective component without any chemical modification.Having so many advantages,to date,the reported drug-drug cocrystals are rare.Here we review the drug-drug cocrystals that reported in last decade and shed light on the opportunities and challenges for the development of drug-drug cocrystals.

Synthesis of cocrystals of sulfonyl urea class drug using suitable coformers for enhancement of aqueous solubility

The pharmaceutical cocrystals and its engineering is widely accepted phenomenon regarding to the enhancement of aqueous solubility of poorly soluble drugs. The pharmaceutical cocrystals have the great ability to improve the physicochemical properties of drug substance. Cocrystals are formed by the stoichiometric combination of drug substance and the coformer. The drug glimepiride is a third generation oral hypoglycemic sulfonylurea class. Glimepiride is a drug which is get classified as biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) class II which indicates the glimepiride having low aqueous solubility and high permeability. Cocrystal engineering is a perfect way to increases glimepiride solubility without changing its therapeutic property. The cocrystals were synthesized by the solvent drop grinding as a green chemistry approach. The coformers used to form the cocrystals are succinic acid (SA), Theobromine (TB), caffeine (CF). The synthesized cocrystals are get characterized by vibrational spectroscopy, thermal analysis, molecular crystallography, and optical microscopy. The obtained results shows the formation of cocrystal phase between the drug glimepiride and its coformers.

Crystal Structures, Stability, and Solubility Evaluation of a 2:1 Diosgenin-Piperazine Cocrystal

A cocrystal of diosgenin with piperazine in 2:1 stoichiometry was successfully synthesized.The solid form was prepared by liquid assisted grinding,slurry and crystallization methods.The cocrystal was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction,differential scanning calorimetry,thermogravimetric analysis,Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,and structure determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction,the hydrogen bonds formed into fish bone structure along the[010]direction and all the molecules packed into 3D layer structure along a axis.After formation of cocrystal,the solubility of diosgenin was improved,and the solubility value in 0.2%SDS solution was approximately 1.5 times as large as that of the parent material.

Theoretical predict structure and property of the novel CL-20/2,4-DNI cocrystal by systematic search approach

Cocrystallization integrates the merits of high energy and insensitivity between energetic molecules to obtain energetics with satisfying performance.However,how to obtain supramolecular synthons accurately and rapidly for predicting the structure and property of cocrystal remains a challenging problem.In this research,an efficient systematic search approach to predict CL-20/2,4-DNI cocrystal has been proposed that 2,4-DNI revolves around CL-20 with a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 in accordance with the specified rules(hydrogen bond length:2.2-3.0 Å;search radius:6.5 Å;the number of hydrogen bond:1-3).Eight possible supramolecular synthons were obtained by combining quantum chemistry with molecular mechanics.Crystal structure prediction indicated that there are four structures in cocrystal,namely P21/c,P212121,Pbca and Pna21,and CL-20/2,4-DNI cocrystal is likely to be P21/c and the corresponding cell parameters are Z=4,a=8.28 Å,b=12.17 Å,c=20.42 Å,α=90°,β=96.94°,γ=90°,and ρ=1.9353 g/cm^(3).To further study the intermolecular interaction of CL-20/2,4-DNI cocrystal,a series of theoretical analyses were employed including intermolecular interaction energy,electrostatic potential(ESP),Density of State(DOS),Hirshfeld surface analysis.The C-H…O hydrogen bonds are demonstrated as the predominant driving forces in the cocrystal formation.The mechanical properties and detonation properties of CL-20/2,4-DNI cocrystal implies that the cocrystal shows better ductility and excellent detonation performances(9257 m/s,39.27 GPa)and can serve as a promising energetic material.Cocrystal structure predicted was compared with the experimental one to verify the accuracy of systematic search approach.There is a less than 8.8%error between experiment and predict results,indicating the systematic search approach has extremely high reliability and accuracy.The systematic search approach can be a new strategy to search supramolecular synthons and identify structures effectively and does have the potential to promote the development of energetic cocrystal by theoretical design.

Intermolecular Interactions, Thermodynamic Properties, Detonation Performance, and Sensitivity of TNT/CL-20 Cocrystal Explosive

Intermolecular interactions and properties of TNT（2,4,6-trinitrotoluene）/CL-20（2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane） cocrystal were studied by density functional theory（DFT） methods. Binding energy, natural bond orbital（NBO）, and atom in molecules（AIM） analysis were performed to investigate the intermolecular interactions in the cocrystal. Results show that the unconventional CH···O type hydrogen bond plays a key role in forming the cocrystal. The variation tendency of entropy and enthalpy shows that the formation of the cocrystal is an exothermic process and low temperature will be benefit for the assembling of complexes. The calculated detonation velocity of the cocrystal agrees well with the experimental value which is higher than that of the physical mixture of TNT and CL-20. In addition, bond dissociation energies（BDEs） of the weakest trigger bond in TNT/CL-20 complex were calculated and the results show that the TNT/CL-20 complex is thermally stable. Finally, first-principles calculations were performed and analysis of the nitro group Mulliken charge indicates that the cocrystal is less sensitive than pure CL-20.

Crystal Structure, Hirshfeld Surface Analysis and Quantum Mechanical Study of a Cocrystal Based on 1,3-Di（4-pyridyl）propane and 3-（（4~′-Carboxybenzyl）oxy） Benzoic Acid

A cocrystal based on 1,3-di（4-pyridyl）propane and 3-（（4′-carboxybenzyl）oxy）benzoic acid,C13H14N2·C15H12O5,has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.The compound crystallizes in monoclinic,space group P21 /c with a = 11.639（4）,b = 9.808（3）,c = 20.854（6）,β = 91.242（7）°,V = 2380.0（13）3,C28H26N2O5,Mr = 470.51,Dc = 1.313 g/cm3,μ（MoKα） = 0.091 mm-1,F（000） = 992,Z = 4,the final R = 0.0677 and wR = 0.1477 for 4175 observed reflections（I 2σ（I））.Intermolecular N H···O hydrogen bonds link two kinds of components into a one-dimensional chain in [10-1] direction and adjacent chains are further arranged into a two-dimensional network by π···π and C H···π interactions.Investigation of intermolecular interactions and crystal packing via Hirshfeld surface analysis reveals that the close contacts are mainly focused on weak interactions.The theoretical investigations with HF/6-31G（d） method were performed,and its stability,frontier molecular orbital composition and Mulliken charge distribution were also discussed.

Crystal Structure and Characterization of Salicylic Acid-benzene Azimide Cocrystal

A new single crystal of 1：1 salicylic acid-benzene azimide was determined and cha-racterized. It belongs to space group P21/n with a = 13.8085（13）, b = 5.3846（4）, c = 16.7063（13） A and β = 102.331（9）°. Crystals of the title compound, C7H6O3·C6H5N3, were obtained by cocrys- tallization. FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy and TGA-DTA were applied to characterize the title compound as supplemental evidence to prove the formation of the crystal. Our work describes the solubility of the crystal by considering the equilibria between the crystal, components, and solution mixture.

Theoretical Insight into the Influence of Molecular Ratio on the Stability, Mechanical Property, Solvent Effect and Cooperativity Effect of HMX/DMI Cocrystal Explosive

Molecular dynamics method was employed to study the binding energies of the selected crystal planes of the 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazacyclooctane（HMX）/1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone（DMI） cocrystal in different molecular molar ratios. The mechanical properties were estimated in different molar ratios. Solvent effects were evaluated and the cooperativity effects were discussed in the HMX···HF···DMI ternary by using the M06-2x/6-311＋G（2df,2p） and MP2（full）/6-311＋G（2df,2p） methods. The results indicate that the substituted patterns（020） and（100） own the highest binding energies. The stabilities of cocrystals in the 1：1 and 2：1 ratios are the greatest, and thus the HMX/DMI cocrystals prefer cocrystallizing in the 1：1 and 2：1 molar ratios, which have good mechanical properties. The sensitivity change of cocrystal originates from not only the formation of intermolecular interaction but also the increment of bond dissociation energy of the N–NO2 bond. The cooperativity effect appears in the linear complex while the anti-cooperativity effect is found in the cyclic system. DMI binding to HMX is not energetically and structurally favored in the presence of HF. This is perhaps the reason that the solvent with large dielectric constant weakens the stability of the HMX/DMI cocrystals. Therefore, the solvents with low dielectric constants should be chosen in the preparation of HMX/DMI cocrystals.

Crystal Structures and Antibacterial Activities of 1,3-Phenylenebis(oxy)diacetic Acid Dihydrate and 4,4'-Bipyridine Cocrystal

Single crystals of two 1,3-phenylenebis（oxy）diacetic acid（C10H10O8） compounds 1 and 2 were obtained via slow evaporation.The compounds were characterized by elemental analysis,IR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction.Compound 1（C10H14O8） crystallizes in the triclinic system,space group P1 with a = 6.3751（6）,b = 8.5311（8）,c = 11.4510（11）A,α = 93.3650（10）,β = 105.3190（10）,γ = 97.2140（10）°,V = 593.15（10） A^3,Z = 2,Mr = 262.21,Dc = 1.468 g/cm^3,F（000） = 276,GOOF = 1.005,° = 0.129 mm^-1,the final R = 0.0361 and w R = 0.0802 for 1854 observed reflections with I 〉 2σ（I）.Compound 2（C30H28N2O12） crystallizes in the triclinic system,space group P1 with a = 9.7416（13）,b = 11.839（2）,c = 12.9828（13） A,α = 74.191（4）,β = 77.953（2）,γ = 74.726（3）°,V = 1374.5（3） A^3,Z = 2,Mr = 608.54,Dc = 1.470 g/cm^3,F（000） = 636,GOOF = 1.061,° = 0.115 mm^-1,the final R = 0.0500 and w R = 0.1221 for 3966 observed reflections with I 〉 2σ（I）.Both compounds 1 and 2 exhibit 3D supramolecular structures under hydrogen bonding interactions.The results of preliminary antibacterial activity show that the title compounds display moderate antibacterial activities against the tested gram positive bacteria（S.aureus,C.albicans and B.subtilis） and gram negative bacteria（E.coli and P.aeruginosa）.

Cocrystal Phenomena of DABCO with Phenol Derivatives

It has been reported that 1,4-diazabicyclo[2,2,2] octane(DABCO) can form complexed crystals with lithium alkals. Our experimental results show that DABCO can also form cocrystals with phenol derivatives such as phenol(2), o-cresol(3), m-cresol(4), p-cresol(5), p-chlorophenol(6), and p-nitrophenol(7). The separa-

Crystal Structure and Thermal Behavior of a Novel Cocrystal Consisting of 3,3’-Dinitrimino-5,5’-Bis(1H-1,2,4-triazole),H_(2)O and(CH3)_(2)SO

A typical nitroimine bistriazole（DNABT） was synthesized with high yield（90.4%） by nitration reaction from DABT in HNO3 and NH4NO3. Furthermore, a novel cocrystal（1） consisting of DNABT, H2O and DMSO in a 1：2：2 molar ratio was analysized on the crystal structure. Cocrystal 1 crystallizes in the triclinic system, space group P1 with a = 6.3124（18）, b = 8.233（2）, c = 9.775（3） A, β = 98.326（4）°, V = 481.59（74）A^3, Z = 2, Dc = 1.55 g/cm^3, F（000） = 234, μ = 0.337 mm^-1, S = 1.078, the final R = 0.0609 and w R = 0.2743. Additionally, the crystal structure is built up by four strong and seven weak hydrogen bonds. And the hydrogen bond network contributes to the stability of DNABT molecule. Typical TGA and DSC curves indicate the cocrystal 1 includes one endothermic and one exothermic decomposition processes, and the peak temperature at each process is 164.0 and 245.0 ℃. The nonisothermal decomposition kinetics analysis was performed by means of the Kissinger and Ozawa methods. The apparent activation energy（Ea） and pre-exponential factor（A） of the two decompositions are 96.0 kJ·mol^-1, 108.1 s^-1 and 215.8 kJ·mol^-1, 1018.9 s^-1, respectively.

Solubility and Thermodynamic Properties of Sulfamethazine-Saccharin Cocrystal in Pure and Binary (Acetonitrile + 2-Propanol) Solvents

In this work,a new crystallization method was used to prepare two polymorphs of sulfamethazine-saccharin(SMT-SAC)cocrystal in bulk.The purity and crystal form of both polymorphs were confirmed by optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,powder X-ray diff raction,diff erential scanning calorimetry,and thermogravimetric analysis.Moreover,the solubility of the stable form(form Ⅱ)was determined by gravimetric analysis in nine pure solvents and one binary(acetoni-trile+2-propanol)solvent at temperatures ranging from 278.15 to 348.15 K at atmospheric pressure.Experimental data were correlated using the modified Apelblat model,theλh equation,the nonrandom two-liquid(NRTL)model,the Jouyban-Acree model,and the CNIBS/Redlich-Kister model.Finally,the apparent thermodynamic properties,such asΔ_(dis)G,Δ_(dis) H,andΔ_(dis) S,were calculated on the basis of the activity coefficient obtained by the NRTL model.All the models correlate well,and all the experimental and calculated results indicate that the dissolution behavior of SMT-SAC cocrystal form II is a spontaneous,endothermic,and entropy-driven process.

Cocrystals of carbamazepine:Structure,mechanical properties,fluorescence properties,solubility,and dissolution rate

Carbamazepine(CBZ)is an anticonvulsant with very low water solubility,presenting as a white crystalline powder with poor mechanical properties and is hard to bend.To enhance CBZ's physicochemical properties,such as water solubility and mechanical properties,we selected six cocrystal coformers(CCFs):nicotinamide(NIC),benzamide(BZM),salicylic acid(SCA),fumaric acid(FMA),trimesic acid(TMA),and hesperetin(HPE).Six CBZ cocrystals were successfully prepared using the solution method.Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR),powder X-ray diffraction(PXRD),differential scanning calorimetry(DSC),and single crystal X-ray diffraction(SCXRD)were used to characterize the crystal structures and gain comprehensive insights into the six cocrystals.The mechanical,fluorescence,and solubility properties of the six cocrystals were tested.The results reveal that most of the prepared cocrystals exhibit improved water solubility and mechanical properties when compared to CBZ.Among them,the dissolution rate of cocrystals excluded from CBZ-HPE has increased by an average of 3 or 4 times compared to CBZ,while CBZ-HPE exhibits superior mechanical properties.Moreover,all six cocrystals possess better fluorescence performance than CBZ.We thoroughly evaluated the mechanical properties of the cocrystals through both experimental and theoretical approaches.This work provides a new direction for studying drug cocrystals to improve the physicochemical properties of drugs.

Theoretical and experimental cocrystal screening of temozolomide with a series of phenolic acids, promising cocrystal coformers

The virtual cocrystal screening approach based on molecular electrostatic potential surface(MEPS)maps is a fast and feasible computational method to estimate the probability of cocrystal formation by calculating the difference in the interaction site pairing energies of monomers and that of their assemblies prior to experimental screening.In this paper,we report 12 cocrystal forms of temozolomide with mono-,di-,and trihydroxy benzoic acids,namely,3-hydroxy-,2,4-dihydroxy-,2,5-dihydroxy-,2,6-dihydroxy-,3,4-dihydroxy-,and 3,4,5-trihydroxy-benzoic acids,as well as benzoic acid,as pharmaceutical coformers for the first time.10 single crystals out of the 12 cocrystal forms were obtained and unequivocally determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction,which clarified spatial arrangements,molecular conformations,and supramolecular synthons.MEPS further gains some insights into the sites of hydrogen bonding interactions for exploring combination patterns in these assemblies.Modulated stability of TMZ was successfully achieved by cocrystallization with these acids.

Fabrication of micro spherulitic particles of carbamazepine-hesperetin cocrystal via QESD with enhanced manufacturability and dissolution

Granulation is an effective method for improving the flowability of drugs, particularly when they are in needle form. Carbamazepine-hesperetin (CBZ-HPE) cocrystal is a needle-like crystal with low solubility and poor flowability, which limits its application. To address this issue, this study aimed to obtain CBZ-HPE microspheres using the quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion (QESD) technique. The preparation process was monitored using polarized light microscopy, and the formation mechanism was elucidated using the radial distribution function (RDF). The microspheres were extensively characterized using PXRD, DSC, TGA, and SEM. Furthermore, the effects of surfactants, contents, and rotational speeds on the morphology and particle size distribution of microspheres were analyzed to determine the optimal experimental conditions. Based on these findings, naringenin and quercetin, the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine, were chosen to successfully prepare CBZ-HPE multicomponent microspheres. This research provides a foundation for increasing drug powder properties and drug conjugation through the preparation of microspheres.

Organic stoichiometric cocrystals with a subtle balance of charge-transfer degree and molecular stacking towards high-efficiency NIR photothermal conversion

Charge-transfer(CT)stoichiometric cocrystals are promising choice of organic materials for unveiling the structure-property relationship.However,due to the contradiction between large CT degree required for strong NIR absorption and flexible molecular stacking,construction of stoichiomorphism-based cocystals with near-infrared(NIR)photothermal property remains challenging.Herein,the first example of stoichiomorphism-based photothermal cocrystals were accomplished through the adaptive assembly of 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine(TMB)donor and 1,2,4,5-tetracyanobenzene(TCNB)acceptor.The selective cocrystallization could be controlled by varying the donor-acceptor stoichiometries via a surfactantassisted method,resulting in two cocrystals with 1:1(T1C1)and 1:2(T2C1)stoichiometries.The absorbance intensity of T1C1 at 808 nm was nearly twice that of T2C1,while the photothermal conversion efficiency(PCE)of the former was 60.3%±0.6%,approximately 80%of that for the latter(75.5%±2.6%),which might be caused by the different intermolecular interactions in distinct molecular stacking patterns.Notably,both excellent PCEs of stoichiometric cocrystals were attributed to the nonradiative transition process,including internal conversion and charge dissociation processes,as elucidated by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy measurements.Furthermore,T1C1 was used as an NIR heater for preparing agarose-based photothermal hydrogel,showing great potential for light-controlled in-situ gelation.This strategy of balancing the CT degree and molecular packing orientation not only uncovered the relationship between stoichiometric stacking and photothermal property,but also provided an opportunity to develop advanced organic optoelectronic materials.