Combined spectroscopic and quantum chemical study to explore the effect of hydrogen bonding in hydrochlorothiazide-nicotinamide cocrystal

The present work focuses on the study of structural, vibrational, chemical properties and the effect of hydrogen bonding interaction in the formation of a cocrystal of hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ, a diuretic drug) with nicotinamide (NCT) using vibrational spectroscopy (FT-IR and FT-Raman) and density functional theory. HCTZ being a BCS class IV drug, has low permeability and solubility; therefore, its cocrystal is studied. Monomer, dimer and trimer of HCTZ-NCT cocrystal were studied to understand hydrogen bonding interactions. The shifting in the wavenumber and the elongation in bond lengths of the amide (NH2) group of HCTZ and carbonyl (C = O) group of NCT were observed in all the models of HCTZ-NCT cocrystal due to the hydrogen bonding interaction. The importance of hydrogen bonding were also explored by natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis in support of the quantum theory of atom in molecules (QTAIM). The chemical reactivity of HCTZ, NCT and HCTZ-NCT cocrystal was examined by MEPS map, FMOs, global electronic reactivity descriptor, ECT descriptors, and molar refractivity. The lesser value of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap in the cocrystal than API reflects that the chemical reactivity of the cocrystal was better than API itself. The comparison between API(HCTZ) and cocrystal (HCTZ-NCT) implies that pharmaceutical cocrystals may be a better option to improve and enhance the pharmacological properties of drugs.