Cocrystallization
of structural analogues urocanic acid and l-histidine with
mono-, di-, and trisubstituted hydroxy benzoic acids has been carried
out to gain insights into the formation of anhydrous and hydrated
molecular salts. Urocanic acid generated anhydrous molecular salts
with 2-hydroxy, 3,5-dihydroxy, and 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzoic acids,
whereas 2,3-dihydroxy, 3,4-dihydroxy, and 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic
acids resulted in hydrated salts. Cocrystallization experiments of
anhydrous l-histidine with 2,3-dihydroxy, 3,4-dihydroxy,
3,5-dihydroxy, 3,4,5-trihydroxy, and 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzoic acids
resulted in hydrated molecular salts. However, l-histidine
2-hydroxybenzoic acid formed an anhydrous molecular salt. In this
context, the hitherto elusive structure of native urocanic acid (anhydrous
form) has been determined. The rationale for the formation of hydrated
and anhydrous salts is evaluated in terms of the hydroxyl substituents
on benzoic acids and the presence of additional amino group in l-histidine. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal
gravimetric analysis (TGA) proved the presence or absence of hydration,
whereas Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) experiments confirmed proton
transfer suggesting the formation of molecular salts for those combinations
that did not produce good quality single crystals for diffraction.