Imidacloprid
(IMI) polymorphs were first found to be sensitive
to the content of antisolvent in an antisolvent crystallization process
using formic acid (FA) as a solvent and water (W) as an antisolvent.
Characterized by XRD, DSC, POM, and Raman, the obtained crystals change
from Form II into Form I as the FA/W ratio becomes lower than 1:1.
Combined with Hirshfeld surface analysis, it illustrates that IMI
molecules have the tail-to-tail and tail-to-head packing modes at
a FA/W ratio of 1:1, whereas they adopt the tail-to-tail parallel
packing at a FA/W ratio of 2:1. Molecular dynamic simulations disclose
that the molecular conformations in the IMI aggregates turn to be
approximately the distinct conformations in the corresponding unit
cells of crystal Form I and II. The competing parameters were put
forward around the active sites of IMI on the basis of the coordination
numbers calculated through RDF profiles to understand deeply the competition
mechanism of the solute–solvent interactions versus the solute–antisolvent
interactions. It is found that as the content of water increases,
the solute–antisolvent interactions gradually turn to be dominant
around the specific sites, which promotes the conformation change
of IMI and then facilitates the nucleation for Form I. These results
provide a useful route to study the nucleation pathway of polymorphic
products.