Attainment of unstable β nucleation of glycine in presence of l-tyrosine and its analytical interpretation—A combined approach

• Unstable β glycine has been achieved in the presence of l-tyrosine in the solution.
• l-tyrosine induced habit modification is clearly revealed in both α and β polymorphs.
• Stereoselective inhibition occurs even at lower concentrations of l-tyrosine.
• Nucleated β glycine undergoes SMPT to α with increase in time.
• Analytical approach employed provides a good correlation with experimental results.

The ability of l-tyrosine molecules to act as a template and to facilitate the nucleation of unstable β polymorph in the solution has been revealed through in-situ nucleation study. This nucleation of β occurs along with the existing α nucleation at the critical concentration of additive in the solution. The presence of l-tyrosine molecules lowers the inherent barrier that exists for β nucleation in the solution. No nucleation of γ was observed over the entire range of concentrations studied. The molecular recognition capability and stereo selective inhibitory action of the added l-tyrosine molecules towards glycine molecule have been successfully revealed in terms of habit modification observed in the nucleated polymorphs. In the case of α polymorph, l-tyrosine induces a change in the morphology along the enantiopolar −b direction while in the case of β polymorph, habit modification from needle to plate like structure is observed. With the increase in time span, solution mediated phase transformation from β to α polymorph has been observed in the solution. Analytically the nucleation parameters of α and β polymorphs were estimated based on Classical Nucleation Theory. Form of crystallization of the nucleated polymorphs of glycine was confirmed by a powder x-ray diffraction analysis.