Olanzapine was crystallized from 12 organic solvents alone or in mixture, by cooling in the freezer, by slow evaporation of the solvent, or by suspending olanzapine powder for some time in the solvent. All the samples thus obtained were examined by thermal analysis (differential scanning calorimetry-DSC and thermogravimetry-TG) to certify the formation of a solvate, the presence of polymorph (form 1 or 2) in the desolvated olanzapine, comparing the different profile of the thermograms, and to calculate the stoichiometry of the possible solvate. According to the DSC thermogram, the solvents can be divided into four classes: those that do not form solvates and leave olanzapine form 1 (ethyl acetate, toluene, diethyl ether, and acetone); those that form solvate and leave form 1 of olanzapine after desolvation (methanol, 1- and 2-propanol); those that after desolvation of the solvate show a polymorph transition in the thermogram indicating the presence of form 2 of olanzapine (ethanol); other solvents (tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, acetonitrile) give solvate thermograms, where this last thermal trace is only poorly evident. With few exceptions, each solvent forms solvate both when pure and in mixture (10%, v/v, in ethyl acetate). Methanol monosolvate displays complex thermogram and thermogravimetric desolvation profiles, depending on the crystallization experimental conditions, used to prepare the solvates. Dichloromethane solvate was found by X-ray diffraction analysis to be amorphous and, on heating during DSC analysis, allowed the crystallization of both form 1 and 2, with different weight ratio, according to the experimental conditions of the solvate preparation.
Keywords: X-ray powder diffractometry; calorimetry (DSC); crystallization; desolvation; solvates.
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