Synthesis and Characterization of a New Mebendazole Salt: Mebendazole Hydrochloride

NMR Longitudinal Rotating Frame Relaxation Time (T1ρ) with a Weak Spin Locking Field as an Approach to Characterize Solid-State Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients: Proof of Concept

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) longitudinal rotating frame relaxation time (T1ρ), rarely used in low-field NMR, can be more effective than conventional T1 and T2 relaxation times to differentiate polymorphic forms of solid pharmaceuticals. This could be attributed to T1ρ sensibility to structural and molecular dynamics that can be enhanced by changing the strength of the oscillating magnetic field (B1) of spinlock pulses. Here, we compared the capacity of T1, T2, and T1ρ to differentiate inactive (A) and active (C) crystalline forms of the World Health Organization essential drug Mebendazole. The results showed that T1 and T2 values of both forms were statistically identical at 0.47 T. Conversely, T1ρ of both forms measured with weak spinlock B1 fields, ranging from 0.08 to 0.80 mT were statistically different in the same spectrometer. The T1ρ also has the limit of detection to detect the presence of at least 10% of inactive A form in the active C form. Therefore, T1ρ, measured with weak spinlock B1 fields can be an effective, streamlined, and complementary approach for characterizing not only solid active pharmaceutical ingredients but other solid-state materials as well.

Mebendazolium mesylate anhydride salt: rational design based on supramolecular assembly, synthesis, and solid-state characterization

The design mebendazole (MBZ) multicomponent systems is important to obtain new materials that incorporate the API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) with better thermal stability, avoiding the interconversion of desmotropes. Interestingly, the presence of water molecules in the mebendazolium mesylate monohydrate prevents the formation of the R22(8) supramolecular synthon, found in all mebendazolium salts with polyatomic counterions. Here, we designed a new mebendazolium mesylate anhydrous salt based on statistical scrutiny of all mebendazole crystal structures identified in the literature and an exhaustive analysis of the conformational and geometrical requirements for the supramolecular assembly. The synthesis of this new salt and its solid-state characterization through single-crystal X-ray diffraction and complementary techniques are presented. As expected, mebendazole recrystallization in methanol with methanesulfonic acid - a Food and Drug Administration accepted coformer - in the absence of water yields a mesylate anhydrous salt with 1 : 1 stoichiometry. This new salt crystallizes in the P212121 (19) space group. The main intermolecular interactions found in the crystal structure are the hydrogen bonds that form a R22(8) supramolecular motif that assembles the ionic pairs. Additional non-classical H-bond, as well as π⋯π and carbonyl⋯cation interactions, contribute to the final stabilization of the crystal packing. This new salt is stable up to 205 °C when it undergoes the endothermic loss of the ester moiety to yield 2-amino-5-benzoylbenzimidazole. Moreover, preliminary dissolution experiments in aqueous 0.1 mol L-1 HCl suggest an apparent solubility of mebendazolium mesylate anhydride 2.67 times higher than that of the preferred for pharmaceutical formulations MBZ form C.

Structural features, dissolution performance and anthelmintic efficacy of multicomponent solid forms of fenbendazole with maleic and oxalic acids

Two new multicomponent crystalline phases of fenbendazole (FNB), a benzimidazole anthelmintic agent, with maleic and oxalic acids have been prepared, and their structural and physicochemical properties carefully investigated.

Benzimidazole and aminoalcohol derivatives show in vitro anthelmintic activity against Trichuris muris and Heligmosomoides polygyrus

Background

Infections by gastrointestinal nematodes cause significant economic losses and disease in both humans and animals worldwide. The discovery of novel anthelmintic drugs is crucial for maintaining control of these parasitic infections.

Methods

For this purpose, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential anthelmintic activity of three series of compounds against the gastrointestinal nematodes Trichuris muris and Heligmosomoides polygyrus in vitro. The compounds tested were derivatives of benzimidazole, lipidic aminoalcohols and diamines. A primary screening was performed to select those compounds with an ability to inhibit T. muris L₁ motility by > 90% at a single concentration of 100 µM; then, their respective IC₅₀ values were calculated. Those compounds with IC₅₀ < 10 µM were also tested against the adult stage of T. muris and H. polygyrus at a single concentration of 10 µM.

Results

Of the 41 initial compounds screened, only compounds AO14, BZ6 and BZ12 had IC₅₀ values < 10 µM on T. muris L₁ assay, showing IC₅₀ values of 3.30, 8.89 and 4.17 µM, respectively. However, only two of them displayed activity against the adult stage of the parasites: BZ12 killed 81% of adults of T. muris (IC₅₀ of 8.1 µM) and 53% of H. polygyrus while BZ6 killed 100% of H. polygyrus adults (IC₅₀ of 5.3 µM) but only 17% of T. muris.

Conclusions

BZ6 and BZ12 could be considered as a starting point for the synthesis of further structurally related compounds.

Graphical Abstract

Solid-State NMR-Driven Crystal Structure Prediction of Molecular Crystals: The Case of Mebendazole

Among all possible NMR crystallography approaches for crystal-structure determination, crystal structure prediction - NMR crystallography (CSP-NMRX) has recently turned out to be a powerful method. In the latter, the original procedure exploited solid-state NMR (SSNMR) information during the final steps of the prediction. In particular, it used the comparison of computed and experimental chemical shifts for the selection of the correct crystal packing. Still, the prediction procedure, generally carried out with DFT methods, may require important computational resources and be quite time-consuming, especially if there are no available constraints to use at the initial stage. Herein, the successful application of this combined prediction method, which exploits NMR information also in the input step to reduce the search space of the predictive algorithm, is presented. Herein, this method was applied on mebendazole, which is characterized by desmotropism. The use of SSNMR data as constraints for the selection of the right tautomer and the determination of the number of independent molecules in the unit cell led to a considerably faster process, reducing the number of calculations to be performed. In this way, the crystal packing was successfully predicted for the three known phases of mebendazole. To evaluate the quality of the predicted structures, these were compared to the experimental ones. The crystal structure of phase B of mebendazole, in particular, was determined de novo by powder diffraction and is presented for the first time in this paper.

Rational design, supramolecular synthesis and solid state characterization of two bicomponent solid forms of mebendazole

MBZ methyl sulfate and perchlorate were designed based on the statistical probability of the formation of an R22(8) supramolecular heterosynthon.

Preparation of albendazole-loaded liposomes by supercritical carbon dioxide processing

Supercritical fluid (SCF) technology offers a potential green alternative to organic solvent-based methods for drug formulation. Albendazole (ABZ) has promising anticancer activity when formulated to increase its cellular uptake. Herein, a static volume method was used to determine the solubility of ABZ in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) for the future development of such ABZ formulations. The solubility of ABZ in scCO₂ (250 bar, 37 °C) was approximately 12 mg/100 mL. The extent of dissolution was measured at various time points to determine when saturation solubility occurred, which was demonstrated from 9 h. In order to determine if scCO₂ processing induced ABZ polymorphism, DSC/TGA, FTIR and XRD were used, which demonstrated no change in its solid state. Following this, ABZ loaded liposomes were manufactured using SCF technology. The liposomes diameter was 167.2 ± 5.3 nm as determined by Zetasizer, and confirmed by cryo-transmission electron microscopy. In conclusion, scCO₂ was used successfully to solubilize ABZ, and to manufacture liposomes of nano-sized range. This study provides insight into use of green technology for future ABZ liposomal formulation without the need for organic solvents.

Novel pharmaceutical salts of albendazole

Novel pharmaceutical salts of albendazole drugs are crystallized with sulfonic acids and carboxylic acids. The disorder of the thiopropyl chain in the parent crystal structure is resolved in the salt crystal structures.

Solid-state supramolecular synthesis based on the N-H…O heterosynthon: an approach to solve the polymorphism problem in famotidine

Famotidine (FMT), a histamine H2 -receptor antagonist, is a drug commonly used in treatments of gastroesophageal diseases that presents solid-state polymorphism (A and B forms), the marketed form being the metastable polymorph B. A new stable salt was obtained by combination of FMT and maleic acid as coformer. FMT maleate (FMT-MLT) was prepared either by solvent evaporation or comilling methods. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals that (FMT)(+) in FMT-MLT adopts an extended conformation that is stabilized by classical and nonclassical H-bonds. The three-dimensional packing consists of tapes along the axis b that further develop a columnar array based on H-bonds involving (FMT)(+) side chain. Nonconventional π-stacking interactions between adjacent tapes were also identified. Fourier transform infrared, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, polarized light thermal microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were employed to characterize the multicomponent complex. According to the solubility values in water and simulated gastric fluid, FMT-MLT exhibits such a performance that improves on the solubility of the commercially available polymorph. Finally, the higher stability of FMT-MLT regarding both FMT forms, as well as its easy preparation from either A or B forms or a mixture of them, also allows to consider this salt as a valuable alternative to avoid the polymorphism issue in marketed formulations containing FMT.

Crystal structure determination of mebendazole form A using high-resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction data

The crystal structure determination of mebendazole form A, an anthelmintic drug, was performed for the first time by applying the DASH software program to synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data, and supported by a satisfying Rietveld fit. This polymorph of mebendazole crystallizes in a triclinic (P1) space group, with unit-cell parameters a = 5.5044(2) A, b = 11.2872(2) A, c = 12.5276(5) A, alpha = 66.694(2) degrees, beta = 82.959(2) degrees, gamma = 78.443(2) degrees, V = 699.52(5) A(3), Z = 2, M = 295.293 g mol(-1), rho(calc) = 1.4021 g cm(-3), and rho(meas) = 1.3935(66) g cm(-3), which were obtained by means of the unit-cell formula weight and a picnometric measurement, respectively. The goodness-of-fit and R-factors were, respectively: chi(2) = 1.746, R(F)(2) = 1.69%, R(wp) = 5.72%, and R(p) = 4.37%. A weak nonclassical hydrogen bond involving the atoms N(3)-H(23)...O(11) may be responsible for the greater stability of the polymorphic form A of mebendazole due to the strongest electronegativity of nitrogen.