Plastic and glassy crystal states of caffeine

J Phys Chem B. 2005 Aug 25;109(33):16092-8. doi: 10.1021/jp040494c.

Abstract

The present paper focuses on the high temperature form I of caffeine and on its low temperature metastable form. Structural, dynamic, and kinetic information has been obtained by X-ray, dielectric, and calorimetric investigations. This study shows the following features: (1) The high temperature phase (I) of caffeine is in a state of dynamically orientationally disordered crystalline state (so-called "plastic, or rotator, phase"). (2) This high-symmetry hexagonal phase can be maintained at low temperature in a metastable situation. (3) Under deep undercooling of form I a glass transition occurs in the disordered crystalline state near room temperature. It is associated with the orientational freezing in of the molecular motions. Otherwise stated, the metastable state I enters into a nonergodic unstable state, so-called "glassy crystal" state. These findings rationalize the difficulties seen with caffeine in pharmaceutical science.

MeSH terms

  • Caffeine / chemistry*
  • Crystallization
  • Glass / chemistry*
  • Molecular Structure
  • Plastics*
  • Powder Diffraction
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Plastics
  • Caffeine