A thorough re-examination of sulfaguanidine’s
(SGD) solid-state
behavior was conducted, 65 years after the initial report on SGD polymorphism.
This investigation focuses on the polymorphic nature of the compound,
the formation of hydrates and solvates, and the pivotal role of experimental
and computational methods in screening, assessing stability, and understanding
transformation processes. The findings confirm the presence of five
anhydrates (AH-I–V), two monohydrate
polymorphs (Hy1-I and Hy1-II), and nine
solvates (with tetrahydrofuran, methanol, ethanol, t-butanol, acetone, cyclohexanone, dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethyl formamide, and dimethyl acetamide). Notably, nine novel structures–two anhydrates and seven
solvates–are reported, solved from powder X-ray diffraction
data. Calorimetric measurements have revealed that AH-II is the thermodynamically stable polymorph at room and low temperatures.
In contrast, AH-I emerges as the stable polymorph at
higher temperatures, yet it exhibits remarkable kinetic stability
at RT and demonstrates greater stability in terms of hydration. The
anhydrate forms exhibit distinctive packing arrangements, while the
two hydrates share a close structural resemblance. Among the seven
structurally characterized solvates, only the tetrahydrofuran and
dimethyl sulfoxide solvates are isostructural. Controlled desolvation
experiments enabled the formation of AH-I, AH-II, and, notably, AH-V for the first time. The anhydrate
and monohydrate crystal structure prediction studies reveal that the
computed lowest-energy structures correspond to experimentally observed
forms and propose models for the elusive AH-IV structure.
Overall, the exploration of SGD’s solid-state landscape confirms
a rich array of highly stable H-bonding motifs and packing arrangements,
positioning this study as an ideal model for complex solid-state systems
and shedding light on its intricate solid-state nature.