Pharmaceutical Co-Crystal of Flufenamic Acid: Synthesis and Characterization of Two Novel Drug-Drug Co-Crystal

Two novel pharmaceutical co-crystals of anti-inflammatory drug flufenamic acid (FFA) with 2-chloro-4-nitrobenzoic acid (CNB) and ethenzamide (ETZ) have been synthesized by solvent evaporation method as well as by solvent drop-assisted grinding method. The synthesized co-crystals were characterized thoroughly by various spectroscopic methods and crystal structures were determined by single-crystal x-ray diffraction technique. In FFA-CNB co-crystal, robust supramolecular acid-acid homosynthon was observed. FFA-ETZ co-crystal is formed via robust supramolecular acid-amide heterosynthon. In FTIR spectra, a significant shift in the carbonyl stretching frequency was observed for the co-crystals due to the presence of intermolecular hydrogen bond. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance study suggests the presence of hydrogen bond in the solution state of FFA-ETZ co-crystal; however, it was absent for FFA-CNB co-crystal. Solubility study in Millipore water revealed that the solubility of FFA is increased by 2-fold when it is in the form of FFA-CNB co-crystal and no increment in the solubility of FFA was observed in FFA-ETZ co-crystal. About 5-fold increment in the solubility of FFA was observed in both the co-crystals in 0.1 N HCl (pH 1) solution. The synthesized co-crystals were found to be non-hygroscopic at ∼75% relative humidity and stable for a period of 6 months at ambient temperature (∼25°C).