Pharmaceutical salts of emoxypine with dicarboxylic acids

New salt forms of the antioxidant drug emoxypine (EMX, 2-ethyl-6-methylpyridin-3-ol) with pharmaceutically acceptable maleic (Mlt), malonic (Mln) and adipic (Adp) acids were obtained {emoxypinium maleate, C₈H₁₂NO⁺·C₄H₃O₄ ⁻, [EMX+Mlt], emoxypinium malonate, C₈H₁₂NO⁺·C₃H₃O₄ ⁻, [EMX+Mln], and emoxypinium adipate, C₈H₁₂NO⁺·C₆H₉O₄ ⁻, [EMX+Adp]} and their crystal structures determined. The molecular packing in the three EMX salts was studied by means of solid-state density functional theory (DFT), followed by QTAIMC (quantum theory of atoms in molecules and crystals) analysis. It was found that the major contribution to the packing energy comes from pyridine–carboxylate and hydroxy–carboxylate heterosynthons forming infinite one-dimensional ribbons, with [EMX+Adp] additionally stabilized by hydrogen-bonded C(9) chains of Adp⁻ ions. The melting processes of the [EMX+Mlt] (1:1), [EMX+Mln] (1:1) and [EMX+Adp] (1:1) salts were studied and the fusion enthalpy was found to increase with the increase of the calculated lattice energy. The dissolution process of the EMX salts in buffer (pH 7.4) was also studied. It was found that the formation of binary crystals of EMX with dicarboxylic acids increases the EMX solubility by more than 30 times compared to its pure form.