The hydration/dehydration behavior of aspartame revisited.

Aspartame, l-aspartyl-l-phenylalanine methyl ester, has two hydrates (IA and IB), a hemi-hydrate (IIA) and an anhydrate (IIB). The hydration/dehydration behavior of aspartame was investigated using hot-humidity stage X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and molecular mechanics modeling in combination with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results of this study are compared to earlier studies on aspartame as described in literature. It is shown that earlier transition studies were hampered by incomplete conversions and wrong assignment of the forms. The combination of the techniques applied in this study now shows consistent results for aspartame and yields a clear conversion scheme for the hydration/dehydration behavior of the four forms.