Assessment of the Stoichiometry of Multicomponent Crystals Using Only X-ray Powder Diffraction Data

Knowledge of the unit cell volume of a crystalline form and the expected space filling requirements of an API molecule can be used to determine if a crystalline material is likely to be multicomponent, such as a solvate, hydrate, salt, or a co-crystal. The unit cell information can be readily accessed from powder diffraction data alone utilizing powder indexing methodology. If the unit cell has additional space not likely attributable to the API entity, then there is either a void or another component within the crystal lattice. This "leftover" space can be used to determine the likely stoichiometry of the additional component. A simple approach for calculating the expected required volume for a given molecule within a crystal using an atom based additive approach will be discussed. Coupling this estimation with the actual unit cell volumes and space group information obtained from powder indexing allows for the rapid evaluation of the likely stoichiometry of multicomponent crystals using diffraction data alone. This approach is particularly useful for the early assessment of new phases during salt, co-crystal, and polymorph screening, and also for the characterization of stable and unstable solvates.