Physicochemical properties and thermal stability of quercetin hydrates in the solid state

In the present work three samples of quercetin raw materials (QCTa, QCTb and QCTc), purchased from different Brazilian suppliers, were characterized employing scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, simultaneous thermogravimetry and infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and variable temperature-powder X-ray diffraction, in order to know their physicochemical properties, specially the thermal stability in solid state. The results demonstrated that the raw materials of quercetin analyzed present distinct crystalline structures, ascribed to the different degree of hydration of their crystal lattice. The thermal stability of these quercetin raw materials in the solid state was highly dependent on their degree of hydration, where QCTa (quercetin dihydrate) was thermodynamically more stable than the other two samples.

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► Quercetin raw materials may present different degree of hydration.
► Thermal stability of quercetin in the solid state depends on its degree of hydration.
► Quercetin dehydrate is thermodynamically more stable than the other crystal forms.