Pharmaceutical cocrystals,
a type of multicomponent crystalline
material incorporating two or more molecular and/or ionic compounds
connected by noncovalent interactions (such as hydrogen bonds, π–π
interactions, and halogen bonds), are attracting increasing attention
in crystal engineering. Sulfaguanidine (SGD), one of the most frequently
used sulfonamide compounds, was chosen as a model compound in this
work to further investigate the hydrogen bond interactions in cocrystals,
since it possesses various hydrogen bond donor and acceptor sites.
Five cocrystals of SGD, synthesized successfully by slurry and slow
evaporation methods, were fully characterized by thermal analysis,
X-ray techniques, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. To
gain insight into the nature of hydrogen-bonding interactions, theoretical
calculations including the analysis of Hirshfeld surface, MEPS (molecular
electrostatic potential surface), and QTAIM (quantum theory of atoms
in molecules) were conducted. The results are a part of a systematic
study of cocrystals of sulfonamides that aims to establish synthon
hierarchies in cocrystals containing molecules with multiple hydrogen-bonding
functional groups.