In 2005, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) and global pharmaceutical companies established the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable to encourage the integration of green chemistry and engineering into the pharmaceutical industry. The Roundtable developed a list of key research areas in green chemistry in 2007, which has served as a guide for focusing green chemistry research. Following that publication, the Roundtable companies have identified a list of the key green engineering research areas that is intended to be the required companion of the first list. This publication summarizes the process used to identify and agree on the top key green engineering research areas and describes these areas, highlighting their research challenges and opportunities for improvements from the perspective of the pharmaceutical industry.

No abstract

A concise asymmetric synthesis of an 11β-HSD-1 inhibitor has been achieved using inexpensive starting materials with excellent step-economy at low catalyst loadings. The catalytic enantioselective total synthesis of 1 was accomplished in 7 steps and 38% overall yield aided by the development of an innovative, sequential strategy involving Pd-catalyzed pyridinium C–H arylation and Ir-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of the resulting fused tricyclic indenopyridinium salt highlighted by the use of a unique P,N-ligand (MeO-BoQPhos) with 1000 ppm of [Ir(COD)Cl]2.

A convergent and robust synthesis of a developmental CCR1 antagonist is described using continuous flow technology.

Millimeter-sized α-glycine crystals were generated from continuous non-seeded cooling crystallization in slug flow. The crystallization process is composed of three steps in sequence: slug formation, crash-cooling nucleation, and growth. Stable uniform slugs of three different aspect ratios (slug length/tubing inner diameter) were formed, by adjusting the flow rates of both the solution and air streams. Besides supersaturation, the slug aspect ratio can also affect primary nucleation outcome. Stable slug flow can accommodate a relative supersaturation (C/C*) of up to 1.5 without secondary nucleation. Large glycine crystals can grow to millimeter size within 10 min, inside millimeter-sized slugs without reducing the slug quality.

The IQ Consortium reports on the current state of process analytical technology (PAT) for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing in branded pharmaceutical companies. The article describes the application of PAT in manufacturing and provides representative examples in four common pharmaceutical unit operations: reaction and workup, crystallization, drying, and milling.

Pharmaceutical cocrystals could be used to improve the physicochemical properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Here, a practical solid form screen approach to identify pharmaceutical cocrystals in the early development stage is proposed. This approach first used a cogrinding screen to identify potential cocrystal former leads that could form cocrystals with the compound of interest, followed by a solvent-based screen to identify, evaluate, and generate the cocrystal candidates. This approach not only allows fast identification of the cocrystal candidates but also provides insights on their scalability. Using this approach for the development drug candidate, a glutaric acid cocrystal was identified that provided an improved intrinsic dissolution rate in comparison to that of the free form, and therefore this cocrystal is potentially a better solid form for development. The effects of solvents and structures of cocrystal formers on the cocrystal formation and the rationales for this approach are also discussed.

A practical, safe, and efficient process for the synthesis of PDE4 (phosphodiesterase type 4) inhibitors represented by 1 and 2 was developed and demonstrated on a multi-kilogram scale. Key aspects of the process include the regioselective synthesis of dihydrothieno[3,2-d]pyrimidine-2,4-diol 9 and the asymmetric sulfur oxidation of intermediate 11.