Structural analysis of 5-fluorouracil and thymine solid solutions

Solid-state analysis with powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), solid-state NMR (SSNMR), and other spectroscopic and physical methods can provide detailed structural information about organic and pharmaceutical cocrystals. In this study, a range of solid-state analysis methods are used to characterize co-crystallized solid solutions of 5-fluorouracil and thymine. 1H, 13C and 19F SSNMR and PXRD methods are used to study the structure and disorder present in a solid solution previously prepared by solution evaporation methods; here the solid solution is prepared over a wider stoichiometric range by solvent-drop grinding techniques. Long-range perturbations of key chemical shifts are detectable by SSNMR, indicating that the solid solution is not random. Cross-polarization and heteronuclear correlation SSNMR experiments between 1H, 13C, and 19F nuclei offer insight into the structure of this solid solution, and density functional theory (DFT) methods are applied to calculate lattice energies and NMR properties in order to understand the population of the two primary disordered sites in the crystal structure. In addition, a second solid solution of 5-fluorouracil and thymine is reported and analyzed. This solid solution, which was produced by solvent-drop grinding experiments and characterized by SSNMR and powder X-ray diffraction methods, is determined to be an isostructural phase to that of anhydrous thymine with the inclusion of 5-fluorouracil defects. A similar effect does not occur under excess 5-fluorouracil conditions; instead, phase-separated Form 1 of 5-fluorouracil and anhydrous thymine are obtained. DFT calculations are applied to offer a possible explanation for this disparity.