Cocrystals of 5-fluorocytosine. I. Coformers with fixed hydrogen-bonding sites

The antifungal drug 5-fluorocytosine (4-amino-5-fluoro-1,2-dihydropyrimidin-2-one) was cocrystallized with five complementary compounds in order to better understand its drug-receptor interaction. The first two compounds, 2-aminopyrimidine (2-amino-1,3-diazine) and N-acetylcreatinine (N-acetyl-2-amino-1-methyl-5H-imidazol-4-one), exhibit donor-acceptor sites for R(2)(2)(8) heterodimer formation with 5-fluorocytosine. Such a heterodimer is observed in the cocrystal with 2-aminopyrimidine (I); in contrast, 5-fluorocytosine and N-acetylcreatinine [which forms homodimers in its crystal structure (II)] are connected only by a single hydrogen bond in (III). The other three compounds 6-aminouracil (6-amino-2,4-pyrimidinediol), 6-aminoisocytosine (2,6-diamino-3H-pyrimidin-4-one) and acyclovir [acycloguanosine or 2-amino-9-[(2-hydroxyethoxy)methyl]-1,9-dihydro-6H-purin-6-one] possess donor-donor-acceptor sites; therefore, they can interact with 5-fluorocytosine to form a heterodimer linked by three hydrogen bonds. In the cocrystals with 6-aminoisocytosine (Va)-(Vd), as well as in the cocrystal with the antiviral drug acyclovir (VII), the desired heterodimers are observed. However, they are not formed in the cocrystal with 6-aminouracil (IV), where the components are connected by two hydrogen bonds. In addition, a solvent-free structure of acyclovir (VI) was obtained. A comparison of the calculated energies released during dimer formation helped to rationalize the preference for hydrogen-bonding interactions in the various cocrystal structures.