A study on the effect of the polymeric additive HPMC on morphology and polymorphism of ortho-aminobenzoic acid crystals

• A polymer was used to improve the properties of the crystals of an organic molecule.
• Shape, size and polymorphism were tailored using combinations of solvent and additive.
• PAT tools and off-line analyses were used to characterize the crystals.
• Population balance model was used to quantify the growth inhibition effect of the additive.
• Polymers that are safe for humans could improve the properties of crystals of pharmaceuticals.

In the present study, the effect of Hydroxy Propyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC) on the crystallization of ortho-aminobenzoic acid (OABA) was investigated by seeded and unseeded cooling crystallization experiments. The influence of HPMC on the induction time, crystal shape of Forms I and II of OABA and the polymorphic transformation time was studied. Furthermore, the capability of HPMC to inhibit growth of Form I was evaluated quantitatively and modeled using population balance equations (PBE) solved with the method of moments. The additive was found to strongly inhibit nucleation and growth of Form I as well as to increase the time for the polymorphic transformation from Form II to I. Solvent was also found to influence the shape of Form I crystals at equal concentrations of HPMC. In situ process analytical technology (PAT) tools, including Raman spectroscopy, focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) and attenuated total reflectance (ATR) UV–vis spectroscopy were used in combination with off-line techniques, such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, Malvern Mastersizer and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to study the crystals produced. The results illustrate how shape, size and stability of the two polymorphs of OABA can be controlled and tailored using a polymeric additive.