Crystal structure of donepezil hydrochloride form III, C24H29NO3⋅HCl

The crystal structure of donepezil hydrochloride, form III, has been solved with FOX using laboratory powder diffraction data previously submitted to and published in the Powder Diffraction File. Rietveld refinement with GSAS yielded monoclinic lattice parameters of a = 14.3662(9) Å, b = 11.8384(6) Å, c = 13.5572(7) Å, and β = 107.7560(26)° (C24H30ClNO3, Z = 4, space group P21/c). The Rietveld-refined structure was compared to a density functional theory (DFT)-optimized structure, and the structures exhibit excellent agreement. Layers of donepezil molecules parallel to the (101) planes are maintained by columns of chloride anions along the b-axis, where each chloride anion hydrogen bonds to three donepezil molecules each.

Development and Characterization of Sustained-Released Donepezil Hydrochloride Solid Dispersions Using Hot Melt Extrusion Technology

The aim of this work was to develop the sustained release formulation of donepezil hydrochloride (DH) using the hot-melt extruded solid dispersion technique via the rational screening of hydrophobic carriers. Hydrophobic carriers with different physicochemical properties such as pH-independent swellability, low-permeability (Eudragit® RS PO (E-RS)), pH-independent non-swellability (ethyl cellulose N7 (EC-N7)), and the presence of lipids (Compritol® 888 ATO (C-888)) with or without pore-forming agents were used to achieve the sustained release profile of DH. Mannitol (MNT) was chosen as the temporary pore-forming agent. The thermal analysis showed that both the drug and C-888 preserved their crystallinity within a solid dispersion. During a dissolution test, MNT could generate pores, and the drug release rate was proportionally correlated to the MNT content. Tailoring of the ratio of C-888 and MNT in the formulations along with an appropriate extrusion temperature profile resulted in the modified release of DH, and a preferable release pattern was obtained under these conditions. C-888 was chosen for the further investigations to obtain tablets with a high integrity. The optimized tablets were compared to the marketed formulation of Aricept® in terms of drug release profiles. The optimized formulation showed the stable and sustained release behavior of extended release profile, which was close to the release behavior of Aricept® with good tablet characteristics. It was concluded that the hot-melt extrusion technique can be utilized for the manufacturing of DH sustained release tablets with improved tablet integrity and characteristics by co-processing the tablet excipient with DH/C-888.