This study has demonstrated the use of crystallography, topology and graph set analysis in the description and classification of the complex hydrogen bonded network of triamterene. The aim is to give a brief overview of the methodology used to discuss the crystal structure of triamterene with a view to extending the study to include the solvates, cocrystals and salts of this compound.Graphical abstractOne of the structurally significant dimers (supramolecular synthons) of triamterene identified by this study Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13065-017-0293-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This work discusses the preparation and characterization of crystalline forms of the drug triamterene with various carboxylic acids including Generally Regarded as Safe and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients using liquid-assisted grinding and solvent-evaporative crystallization; a method of potential benefit to the pharmaceutical industry. Triamterene is selected as an appropriate model compound because it has poor water solubility which can have an impact on its bioavailability as a drug and it contains numerous hydrogen-bonding sites, thereby allowing a study of the competition between the different potential supramolecular synthons. Cambridge Structural Database studies show good agreement between this and previous studies using similar compounds.