Scaling up temperature cycling-induced deracemization by suppressing nonstereoselective processes

The scale-up of Temperature Cycling-Induced Deracemization (TCID) of sodium bromate is feasible provided that two nonstereoselective processes are suppressed. Both nonstereoselective processes occur as a result of insufficient crystal breakage or attrition. In the absence of crystal breakage or attrition during the temperature cycles, large crystals emerge and the resulting small total crystal surface area is unable to sufficiently consume the supersaturation during cooling, resulting in nonstereoselective nucleation. This nonstereoselective process can be avoided by applying small temperature cycles involving small dissolving solid fractions. However, this leads to a slow deracemization rate. In addition, crystals undergo nonstereoselective agglomeration, which leads to the formation of large racemic agglomerates constructed of both chiral forms. To counteract their formation, secondary nucleation through crystal breakage was found to be a key requirement. At a large scale, a homogenizer was used to induce crystal breakage which, in combination with temperature cycles, led to the removal of racemic agglomerates as well as a significant increase in the deracemization rate. Overusing the homogenizer, however, caused the enantiomeric excess increase to stop. Our experiments show the importance of secondary nucleation in TCID of sodium bromate. However, secondary nucleation is currently not incorporated in the TCID process models. In the presence of a large amount of crystals which facilitates a sufficiently large crystal surface area at the highest temperature and careful use of the homogenizer, TCID leads to complete deracemization in volumes up to 1 L, demonstrating the potential to extend TCID to industrial applications

On the effect of secondary nucleation on deracemization through temperature cycles

Herein, the pivotal role of secondary nucleation in a crystallization-enhanced deracemization process is reported. During this process, complete and rapid deracemization of chiral conglomerate crystals of an isoindolinone is attained through fast microwave-assisted temperature cycling. A parametric study of the main factors that affect the occurrence of secondary nucleation in this process, namely agitation rate, suspension density, and solute supersaturation, confirms that an enhanced stereoselective secondary nucleation rate maximizes the deracemization rate. Analysis of the system during a single temperature cycle showed that, although stereoselective particle production during the crystallization stage leads to enantiomeric enrichment, undesired kinetic dissolution of smaller particles of the preferred enantiomer occurs during the dissolution step. Therefore, secondary nucleation is crucial for the enhancement of deracemization through temperature cycles and as such should be considered in further design and optimization of this process, as well as in other temperature cycling processes commonly applied in particle engineering

One-pot synthesis, crystallization and deracemization of isoindolinones from achiral reactants

The synthesis, crystallization, and complete solid-state deracemization of isoindolinones was realized in one pot simply by grinding achiral reaction components in a suitable solvent with an achiral catalyst. Previously, this concept was applied to a reversible reaction, but herein we showed that it could also be used in combination with reactions in which product formation is irreversible. A controlled final configuration of the product was obtained by using small amounts of chiral additives or seed crystals of the product

Influence of impurities on the solubility, nucleation, crystallization and compressibility of paracetamol

The striking ability of impurities to significantly influence crystallization processes is a topic of paramount interest in the pharmaceutical industry. Despite being present in small quantities, impurities tend to considerably change a crystallization process as well as the final crystalline product. In the present work, the effect of two markedly different impurities 4-nitrophenol and 4′-chloroacetanilide on the solubility, nucleation, and crystallization of paracetamol is described. In the first part of this work, the fundamentals are outlined and show that, although each impurity led to a small increase in solubility of paracetamol, their effect as a nucleation inhibitor was much more pronounced. Induction time experiments were used in conjunction with the classical nucleation theory to show that the impurities did not affect the solid−liquid interfacial energy but instead significantly reduced the kinetic factor, overall resulting in reduced nucleation rates. Intriguingly, both impurities influenced the solubility and nucleation of paracetamol in a similar fashion despite their significant differences in terms of molecular structure, solubility, and ability to incorporate into the crystal structure of paracetamol. In the second part of this work, the incorporation of 4′-chloroacetanilide into the solid phase of paracetamol was investigated. The presence of 4′-chloroacetanilide in the solid phase of paracetamol significantly increased the compressibility of paracetamol, resulting in improved processability properties of paracetamol. The compressibility efficiency of paracetamol could be controlled using the amount of incorporated 4′-chloroacetanilide. Therefore, an experimental design space was developed and utilized to select the most important process parameters for impurity incorporation. Intriguingly, the number of carbon atoms in the aliphatic chain of the alcohol solvent strongly correlated to the impurity incorporation efficiency. As a result, it was feasible to accurately control the compressibility and the amount of 4′-chloroacetanilide in the solid phase of paracetamol by simply choosing the required alcohol as the solvent for crystallization. Thus, the present work comprehensively shows how different impurities impact the key crystallization mechanisms and properties of a pharmaceutical product. Rational process control over the incorporation of impurities and additives allows for advanced manufacturing of products with tailored specifications

The curious case of acetaldehyde phenylhydrazone: resolution of a 120 year old puzzle where forms with vastly different melting points have the same structure

The solid forms of acetaldehyde phenylhydrazone were investigated in detail over a century ago, with curious results: it was reported that a low melting form could be transformed into a high melting form by trace alkali, and the reverse process could be brought about with trace acid. Our reinvestigation of this puzzle with modern instrumentation has shown that all samples, although exhibiting sharp melting points varying from 56 to 101 °C, have identical IR and solid-state NMR spectra and identical crystal structures. NMR studies of the melts provided the key to the understanding of this strange behavior: differently melting samples did so because they initially melted to liquids with different proportions of the Z and E isomers, although given enough time they all tended to the same equilibrium proportion. The leading role of the isomerization rate in the melt was confirmed in cyclic differential scanning calorimetry experiments and accompanying simulations. In the case of polymorphism, different structures melt to the same liquid. In the present case, the same structure melts to different liquids