During the process safety analysis of a fluoride displacement reaction, a highly exothermic event was observed when the reaction mixture was heated, which appears to be due to the decomposition of DMSO catalyzed by the HF byproduct from the displacement reaction. Although the T D24 for the decomposition is 42 °C above the reaction temperature and the synthesis reaction is mild, the consequences of the decomposition reaction are severe and could exceed the emergency venting capability of the reactor in the case of uncontrolled heating or an external fire, even at pilot plant scale. The use of several bases, cosolvents, and alternative solvents was investigated. Administrative safeguards, including temperature control system limits and removal of flammable solvents from the area, were identified to establish a basis of safety for a scale up to pilot scale. However, these safeguards would be impractical in a manufacturing facility. Eventually, an N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)/tert-butyl methyl ether (MTBE) solvent system was identified, which provided an acceptable process while eliminating the use of DMSO and the associated decomposition reaction. This work shows some of the potential hazards that need to be investigated when using DMSO in a process. While DMSO alone can decompose near its boiling point, the effect of impurities, including byproducts of reactions, can lower the onset and increase the rate of this decomposition. Also, although this process falls into a Stoessel criticality index of 2, which is on the lower risk side of the scale, this case provides a good example where a low probability event needs to be investigated due to the severity of the consequences.
The process development of a new synthetic route leading to an efficient and robust synthetic process for venetoclax (1: the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in Venclexta) is described. The redesigned synthesis features a Buchwald-Hartwig amination to construct the core ester 23c in a convergent fashion by connecting two key building blocks (4c and 26), which is then followed by a uniquely effective saponification reaction of 23c using anhydrous hydroxide generated in situ to obtain 2. Finally, the coupling of the penultimate core acid 2 with sulfonamide 3 furnishes drug substance 1 with consistently high quality. The challenges and solutions for the key Pd-catalyzed C−N cross-coupling will also be discussed in detail. The improved synthesis overcomes many of the initial scale-up challenges and was accomplished in 46% overall yield from 3,3-dimethyldicyclohexanone (6), more than doubling the overall yield of the first generation route. The new process was successfully implemented for producing large quantities of 1 with >99% area purity.
Despite the growth of photoredox
methods in academia, application
of photoredox at scale in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries
has been slow. In this report, a photoredox trifluoromethylation of
a thiophenol was modified from the original literature report, and
the mechanism was investigated to define the key scale-up parameters.
The mechanistic insight was leveraged in the design and execution
of two different reactor designs: an LED-based plug flow photoreactor
and a laser-based continuous stirred tank photoreactor. In one of
the first examples of commercial-scale photoredox chemistry, the process
was scaled to provide over 500 kg of the desired intermediate and
amended to fully continuous manufacturing.
A facile and scaleable synthesis of potent and selective histamine H 3 receptor antagonist 1 is described, starting from commercially available 6-bromo-naphthalene-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester 3a. The key intermediate, 2-(6-bromonaphthalen-2-yl)ethanol 5 was prepared in good yield (78%) and purity (99%) via a one-carbon homologation of 3a. The coupling of 5 with pyridazinone 12 was accomplished effectively by a copper-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction. Activation of the hydroxyl group of 4, followed by displacement reaction with 2(R)-methylpyrrolidine 13, afforded the free base of 1, which was subsequently converted to its corresponding salt. The new process consisted of eight chemical steps and one salt formation step and required no chromatographic purification throughout the synthesis. It has been successfully implemented on pilot plant scale to prepare over 10 kg quantities of the target compound 1 in 43% overall yield in high purity (99%) and with the desired physical properties.
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