Three pharmaceuticals cocrystals of adefovir: Syntheses, structures and dissolution study

•Three cocrystals of adefovir were synthesized and characterized.•The dissolution study were measured and discussed.

We report here three novel cocrystals, which are composed of adefovir as the API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) with p-aminobenzoic acid (1, 2C8H12N5O4P·C7H6NO2·3H2O), 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2, C8H12N5O4P·C7H6O4·H2O) and 2,6-pyridinedicarboxlic acid (3, C8H12N5O4P·C7H5NO4) as CCFs (cocrystal formers) respectively by crystal engineering strategy. Their structures were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis, thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), elemental analysis (EA) and infrared spectral analysis (IR). The analysis of single crystal X-ray diffraction demonstrate that cocrystal 1 and 2 form a strong hydrogen-bonded assembly through the phosphoric acids of API with water in the lattice and carboxylic acids of CCF respectively. Cocrystal 3 is formed in which the phosphoric acid groups of API are also held by the carboxylic acid groups of CCF. The PXRD results indicate their high purity of as-synthesized samples. The TGA, EA, IR and dissolution study of API and the cocrystals were also measured and discussed.