Hydrogen bonding in nitrofurantoin polymorphs: a computation-assisted spectroscopic study

The importance of hydrogen-bond formation in the molecular packing arrangements of two anhydrous forms of nitrofurantoin is investigated, combining computational methods and spectroscopic data. The overall results indicate, as expected, that the vibrational modes related to the C=O, N-H and C-H groups are strongly affected by intermolecular hydrogen-bond formation. Moreover, the importance of weak C-H center dot center dot center dot O interactions in conferring additional stability to molecular associations in biological systems is evidenced in this study. The complete assignment of the Raman and infrared spectra of both polymorphs is accomplished by means of a computationally based methodology, which accounts for the effects of intermolecular interactions in the crystal. The vibrational shifts due to crystal packing interactions are evaluated from DFT calculations for a set of suitable molecular pairs, using the B3LYP/6-31G* approach. This methodology provides an answer to the current demand for a reliable and complete assignment of the vibrational spectra of pharmaceutically active compounds such as nitrofurantoin. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.