One-solvent polymorph screen of carbamazepine

To emphasize the fact that solvents can be either critical or immaterial in crystallizing specific polymorphs, a method for obtaining multiple polymorphs of a compound using only one solvent is demonstrated. By varying the crystallization temperature and level of supersaturation, three of the four polymorphs of carbamazepine (CBZ; 5H-dibenz [b,f]azepine-5-carboxamide) were crystallized from cumene (isopropyl benzene). Form 111, also referred to as the primitive monoclinic form, was produced at temperatures below 60 degrees C from supersaturated solutions concentrated at less than twice the solubility of that form. When the supersaturation was increased to twice the solubility of form III at temperatures below 60 degrees C, form 11, also referred to as the trigonal form, was produced. Form 1, also referred to as the triclinic form, was produced regardless of the level of supersaturation at temperatures above 80 degrees C. Between 60 degrees C and 80 degrees C, mixtures of forms were produced. Competition slurries were employed to establish the transition temperature to be between 79 degrees C and 82 degrees C for the enantiotropically related forms III and I. These results indicate that crystallization of CBZ from cumene can either be under thermodynamic control or affected by the kinetics of crystallization of metastable forms. This raises the question about the importance of solvent diversity when looking for polymorphs, suggesting that a rational experimental design can be used to greatly reduce the number of solvents and crystallization conditions. The results of this one-solvent polymorph screen correlate somewhat with a phase-solubility diagram for CBZ. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.