Abstract
Paracetamol [N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)acetamide, C8H9NO2] has several polymorphs, just like many other drugs. The most stable polymorphs, denoted Forms I and II, can be obtained easily and their crystal structures are known. Crystals of the orthorhombic, less stable, room-temperature Form III are difficult to grow; they need a special recipe to crystallize and suffer from severe preferred orientation. A crystal structure model of Form III has been proposed and solved from a combination of structure prediction and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) [Perrin et al. (2009). Chem. Commun.22, 3181-3183]. The final Rwp value of 0.138 and the corresponding considerable residual trace were reasons to check its validity. A new structure determination of Form III using new high-resolution PXRD data led to a final Rwp value of 0.042 and an improvement of the earlier proposed model. In addition, a reversible phase transition was found at 170-220 K between the orthorhombic Form III and a novel monoclinic Form III-m. The crystal structure of Form III-m has been determined and refined from PXRD data to a final Rwp value of 0.059.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 392-399 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Acta Crystallographica Section C: Structural Chemistry |
Volume | 74 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- acetaminophen
- analgesic
- antipyretic
- crystal structure
- Monte Carlo
- paracetamol
- polymorph
- powder diffraction
- PXRD
- reassessment
- reversible phase transition
- Rietveld refinement
- structure prediction