title: Study of retinoic acid polymorphism.
abstract: Some authors recently hypothesized the existence of a new retinoic acid (RA) phase in addition to the two already known polymorphs. We investigated RA polymorphism and our results exclude the presence of new modifications and refine the properties of the known forms. By comparison of simulated and acquired X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) it was possible to identify only the known monoclinic (I) and the triclinic (II) modifications; the same were also characterized by DSC, IR, and Raman spectroscopy. A solubility study associated to DSC allowed establishing an enantiotropic relationship between the two forms, with form II being less stable (DeltaGII/I=0.71 kJ/mol at 37 degrees C) below the transition temperature (136.6 degrees C; DeltaH=3.2 kJ/mol). The intrinsic dissolution rate (IDR) (I=61 microg/cm2xmin-1; II=125 microg/cm2xmin-1) confirmed this energetic relationship. The kinetics of solid transition I-->II was examined and its activation energy estimated (356 kJ/mol). The attempts to produce new phases allowed the development of methods to obtain the two polymorphs with high chemical and polymorphic purity. A validated DSC method is presented that enables detection of the presence of form I at a level of 1% (w/w) when in mixture with form II.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Farmaceutiche ed Alimentari, Università degli Studi di Genova, via Brigata Salerno (Ponte), 16147 Genova, Italy. Caviglioli@dictfa.unige.it
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caviglioli
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pani
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gatti
authors.forename: Brunella
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Parodi
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cafaggi
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bignardi
mesh_terms: D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003460:Crystallization; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D012995:Solubility; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000737:chemistry*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D014212:Tretinoin