Abstract

COCRYSTAL: A REVIEW ON PHARMACEUTICAL CORYSTALS DESIGN AND PREPARATION

*Sonali R. Devne, Vidya N. Kapse and Dr. Pramod L. Ingale

Abstract

Poor dissolution rate, solubility, bioavailability, chemical stability and moisture uptake are problems associated with most of the active pharmaceutical ingredients. Various approaches have been used for enhancement of solubility of poorly aqueous soluble drugs, Pharmaceutical cocrystal is a reliable method to modify above physicochemical properties without alternating their pharmacological behavior, but success of these approaches depends on physical and chemical nature of molecules being developed. Cocrystallization of drug substances offers a great opportunity for the development of new drug products with superior physicochemical properties such as melting point, tabletability, solubility, stability, bioavailability and permeability, while preserving the pharmacological properties of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Cocrystal is a stoichiometric homogeneous multicomponent system connected by non-covalent interactions where all the components present are solid under ambient condition. This review article presents a systematic overview of pharmaceutical cocrystals. Differences between cocrystals with salts, solvates and hydrates are summarized along with the advantages of cocrystals. The theoretical parameters consider during selection of coformers and screening of cocrystals have been summarized and different methods of cocrystal formation and evaluation have been explained.

Keywords: Cocrystals, coformer, electrospray.