Crystallisation From Volatile Deep Eutectic Solvents

Abstract

A new class of deep eutectic solvents are presented where one component of the system is inherently volatile, enabling a premeditated, auto-destructive capability which leads inexorably to a series of novel crystal structures. These volatile deep eutectic solvents are easily-formed liquids with a greatly depressed melting point and exhibit all of the physical characteristics of classical deep eutectic solvents, with the exception that the hydrogen-bond donor component is volatile when exposed to the atmosphere at room temperature. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this concept through the exquisite control of pharmaceutical polymorphism, among which is a more efficacious form of acetaminophen, which can be formed spontaneously for the first time at room temperature.