Phase Transformation between Anhydrate and Monohydrate of Sodium Dehydroacetate

The crystal structures of monohydrate and anhydrous substance were determined from the single crystals for the first time. The phase transformation between anhydrate and monohydrate of sodium dehydroacetate was in situ investigated by using Raman spectroscopy. The mechanism of the phase transformation was proposed. The results showed that the monohydrate crystalline phase of sodium dehydroacetate can transform to anhydrous phase through solid–solid transformation upon heating or solution-mediated phase transformation. From powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) data, it was found that the anhydrous crystals obtained by these two methods are the same in structure. However, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results revealed that the surface of the anhydrous sodium dehydroacetate crystals obtained by high-temperature dehydration was much rougher than that obtained by solution-mediated phase transformation. Furthermore, the dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) results showed that the anhydrous crystals with rough surface had faster hydration rate than the anhydrous crystals with smooth surface when increasing humidity. The reasons behind these phenomena were discussed.