NotePolymorphism is defined as the occurrence of different crystalline forms of the same pure compound in which the molecules have different arrangement and/or conformation.
1)Many drugs are able to be crystallized in several polymorphic forms, each having a different energy and thereby differing in physicochemical and mechanical properties such as melting point, solubility, stability, heat of fusion, density, refractive index, compression behavior and hygroscopicity.
2)Supercritical fluid (SCF) based technologies are currently valid tools among various crystallization techniques to control the polymorphic form of pharmaceuticals.3) The differences of properties such as solubility may have implications for absorption of the active drug from its dosage form. These concerns have led to an increased regulatory interest in the solid-state properties. 4,5) Solid state NMR (SSNMR) spectroscopy is also an essential technique for the solid state characterization of pharmaceuticals. The SSNMR spectroscopy not only differentiates between polymorphic forms of a pharmaceutical, but also intimately probes the structural aspects of polymorphic form. 6) Furthermore, solid state proton relaxation time (T 1 ) studies can also provide useful information on molecular motion in the solid state.
7)Intrinsic dissolution test is a one of the attempt to measure the solubility of a metastable polymorph which can undergo a phase transformation to the more stable phase during dissolving procedure. In fact, equilibrium solubility may not be very relevant for study of polymorphs if polymorphs are physically unstable in the aqueous environment. Instead, intrinsic dissolution rate (IDR) and kinetic solubility may be more relevant parameters to consider while studying the oral absorption of polymorphs. 2,8,9) Fluconazole is designated chemically as 2,4-difluoroa,a 1 -bis(1H-1,2,4-triazol-L-ylmethyl) benzyl alcohol ( Fig. 1) and is the first of a new subclass of synthetic triazole antifungal agent.10) Three anhydrate polymorphic forms, one monohydrate and several solvates of fluconazole, have been prepared and characterized.11-20) However, there has been no published research involving the characterization of fluconazole polymorphs using SSNMR spectroscopy. Consequently, we investigate the characterization of two fluconazole polymorphs, anhydrate forms I and II prepared by the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process using SSNMR spectroscopy to obtain the structural differences in molecular level between fluconazole polymorphs. General solid state characterization such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy were also performed. Furthermore, kinetic solubility and intrinsic dissolution tests in aqueous solution were performed to investigate the solubility profiles and dissolution properties of fluconazole polymorphs.
ExperimentalMaterials Micronized fluconazole (99.0% purity) was kindly provided Hwail Pharm. Co., Ltd. (Korea). The CO 2 used was 99.9% p...