Experimental and Computational Hydrate Screening: Cytosine, 5-Flucytosine and Their Solid Solution

The structural, temperature- and moisture dependent stability features of cytosine and 5-flucytosine monohydrates, two pharmaceutically important compounds, were rationalized using complementary experimental and computational approaches. Moisture sorption/desorption, water activity, thermal analysis and calorimetry were applied to determine the stability ranges of hydrate ↔ anhydrate systems, while X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy and crystal structure prediction provided the molecular level understanding. At 25 °C, the critical water activity for the cytosine hydrate ↔ anhydrate system is ~0.43 and for 5-flucytosine ~0.41. In 5-flucytosine the water molecules are arranged in open channels, therefore the kinetic desorption data, dehydration < 40% relative humidity (RH), conform with the thermodynamic data, whereas for the cytosine isolated site hydrate dehydration was observed at RH < 15%. Peritectic dissociation temperatures of the hydrates were measured to be 97 °C and 84.2 °C for cytosine and 5-flucytosine, respectively, and the monohydrate to anhydrate transition enthalpies to be around 10 kJ mol^-1. Computed crystal energy landscapes not only revealed that the substitution of C5 (H or F) controls the packing and properties of cytosine/5-flucytosine solid forms, but also have enabled the finding of a monohydrate solid solution of the two substances which shows increased thermal- and moisture-dependent stability compared to 5-flucytosine monohydrate.