Potential of Homogeneous Pd Catalyst Separation by Ceramic Membranes. Application to Downstream and Continuous Flow Processes

[(NHC)Pd(OAc)2]: Highly Active Carboxylate Pd(II)-NHC (NHC = N-Heterocyclic Carbene) Precatalysts for Suzuki-Miyaura and Buchwald-Hartwig Cross-Coupling of Amides by N-C(O) Activation

In the past eight years, the selective cross-coupling of amides by N-C(O) bond activation has emerged as a highly attractive manifold for the manipulation of traditionally unreactive amide bonds. In this Special Issue on Next-Generation Cross-Coupling Chemistry, we report the Suzuki-Miyaura and Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupling of amides by selective N-C(O) cleavage catalyzed by bench-stable, well-defined carboxylate Pd(II)-NHC (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) catalysts {[(NHC)Pd(O2CR)2]}. This class of Pd(II)-NHCs promotes cross-coupling under exceedingly mild room-temperature conditions owing to the facile dissociation of the carboxylate ligands to form the active complex. These readily accessible Pd(II)-NHC precatalysts show excellent functional group tolerance and are compatible with a broad range of amide activating groups. Considering the mild conditions for the cross-coupling and the facile access to carboxylate Pd(II)-NHC complexes, we anticipate that this class of bench-stable complexes will find wide application in the activation of amide N-C(O) and related acyl X-C(O) bonds.

Organic Solvent Nanofiltration in Pharmaceutical Applications

Separation and purification in organic solvents are indispensable procedures in pharmaceutical manufacturing. However, they still heavily rely on the conventional separation technologies of distillation and chromatography, resulting in high energy and massive solvent consumption. As an alternative, organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) offers the benefits of low energy consumption, low solid waste generation, and easy scale-up and incorporation into continuous processes. Thus, there is a growing interest in employing membrane technology in the pharmaceutical area to improve process sustainability and energy efficiency. This Review comprehensively summarizes the recent progress (especially the last 10 years) of organic solvent nanofiltration and its applications in the pharmaceutical industry, including the concentration and purification of active pharmaceutical ingredients, homogeneous catalyst recovery, solvent exchange and recovery, and OSN-assisted peptide/oligonucleotide synthesis. Furthermore, the challenges and future perspectives of membrane technology in pharmaceutical applications are discussed in detail.

Recovery of Homogeneous Platinoid Catalysts from Pharmaceutical Media: Review on the Existing Treatments and the Perspectives of Membrane Processes

Catalyst recovery is a major challenge for reaching the objectives of green chemistry for industry. Indeed, catalysts enable quick and selective syntheses with high reaction yields. This is especially the case for homogeneous platinoid catalysts which are almost indispensable for cross-coupling reactions often used by the pharmaceutical industry. However, they are based on scarce, expensive, and toxic resources. In addition, they are quite sensitive and degrade over time at the end of the reaction. Once degraded, their regeneration is complex and hazardous to implement. Working on their recovery could lead to highly effective catalytic chemistries while limiting the environmental and economic impacts of their one-time uses. This review aims to describe and compare conventional processes for metal removal while discussing their advantages and drawbacks considering the objective of homogeneous catalyst recovery. Most of them lead to difficulty recycling active catalysts due to their ability to only treat metal ions or to chelate catalysts without the possibility to reverse the mechanism. However, membrane processes seem to offer some perspectives with limiting degradations. While membranes are not systematically the best option for recycling homogeneous catalysts, current development might help improve the separation between pharmaceutical active ingredients and catalysts and enable their recycling.

Inline purification in continuous flow synthesis – opportunities and challenges

Continuous flow technology has become the method of choice for many academic and industrial researchers when developing new routes to chemical compounds of interest. With this technology maturing over the last decades, robust and oftentimes automated processes are now commonly exploited to generate fine chemical building blocks. The integration of effective inline analysis and purification tools is thereby frequently exploited to achieve effective and reliable flow processes. This perspective article summarizes recent applications of different inline purification techniques such as chromatography, extractions, and crystallization from academic and industrial laboratories. A discussion of the advantages and drawbacks of these tools is provided as a guide to aid researchers in selecting the most appropriate approach for future applications. It is hoped that this perspective contributes to new developments in this field in the context of process and cost efficiency, sustainability and industrial uptake of new flow chemistry tools developed in academia.

Platinum-Catalyzed Alkene Hydrosilylation: Solvent-Free Process Development from Batch to a Membrane-Integrated Continuous Process

The integration of a membrane separation protocol with the platinum-catalyzed hydrosilylation of olefins is investigated. The catalytic reaction is first optimized in batch where [Pt(IPr*)(dms)Cl₂ ] (IPr*=1,3-bis[2,6-bis(diphenylmethyl)-4-methylphenyl]imidazol-2-ylidene, dms=dimethyl sulfide) demonstrates superior activity compared to the less sterically encumbered [Pt(SIPr)(dms)Cl₂ ] (SIPr=1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolidine) congener. Filtration conditions are identified in membrane screening experiments. Hydrosilylation of 1-octene catalyzed by [Pt(IPr*)(dms)Cl₂ ] is conducted in continuous mode and the platinum catalyst is separated efficiently over the commercially available Borsig oNF-2 membrane, all under solvent-free conditions. An advantage of this process is that both reaction and separation are coupled in a single step. Moreover, at the end of the process the intact catalyst was recovered in 80 % yield as an off-white solid without any further purification.

Conversion of Pd(I) off-cycle species into highly efficient cross-coupling catalysts

We report on the facile conversion of [Pd2(μ-Cl)(μ-η3-R-allyl)(NHC)2] complexes, which are commonly considered undesirable off-cycle species in cross-coupling reactions, into active [PdCl(μ-Cl)(NHC)]2 pre-catalysts. All reactions proceed under mild conditions (40 °C, 1-2 hours in acetone) using inexpensive HCl as both an oxidant and chloride source. DFT calculations were performed to explore the possible mechanism of this transformation, which appears to involve a combination of two different pathways. Moreover this study provides insights into factors favoring and hindering Pd(i) dimer formation undesirable in catalysis.

Stereoselective organocatalysis and flow chemistry

Organic synthesis has traditionally been performed in batch. Continuous-flow chemistry was recently rediscovered as an enabling technology to be applied to the synthesis of organic molecules. Organocatalysis is a well-established methodology, especially for the preparation of enantioenriched compounds. In this chapter we discuss the use of chiral organocatalysts in continuous flow. After the classification of the different types of catalytic reactors, in Section 2, each class will be discussed with the most recent and significant examples reported in the literature. In Section 3 we discuss homogeneous stereoselective reactions in flow, with a look at the stereoselective organophotoredox transformations in flow. This research topic is emerging as one of the most powerful method to prepare enantioenriched products with structures that would otherwise be challenging to make. Section 4 describes the use of supported organocatalysts in flow chemistry. Part of the discussion will be devoted to the choice of the support. Examples of packed-bed, monolithic and inner-wall functionalized reactors will be introduced and discussed. We hope to give an overview of the potentialities of the combination of (supported) chiral organocatalysts and flow chemistry.

Ligand and Solvent Selection for Enhanced Separation of Palladium Catalysts by Organic Solvent Nanofiltration

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) has been widely applied to separate and recycle homogeneous catalysts, but the influence of ligand and solvent selection on the performance of OSN is not fully understood. Here we prepared four palladium (Pd) catalysts by combining palladium acetate with four ligands of different molecular weights. Morphological and functional properties of the Pd catalysts were characterized by TEM, FTIR, and NMR. OSN experiments were conducted in a lab-scale dead-end filtration rig. Two commercial OSN membranes, PuraMem S600 (PS600) and DuraMem 500 (D500), were used to separate the Pd catalysts from different organic solvents (toluene, isopropanol, butanol/water, and methanol) that are specified to be compatible with, respectively. For both membranes, the pure solvent permeance was positively related to the degree of membrane swelling induced by the solvent. The solvent permeance decreased significantly after the addition of a solute, as a result of membrane fouling and concentration polarization. For the PS600 membrane, the Pd rejection in any solvent was closely correlated to the molecular weight of the ligand, which agrees with the pore-flow model. For the D500 membrane, on the other hand, there was no conclusive link between the Pd rejection and the type of ligand. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the separation processes in PS600 and D500 membranes were controlled by different transport models. The findings shed light on the selection of ligand and solvent in OSN in order to enhance the separation of homogeneous catalysts.

Bulky-Yet-Flexible Carbene Ligands and Their Use in Palladium Cross-Coupling

In recent years, several classes of new N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands were developed around the concept of “flexible steric bulk”. The steric hindrance of these ligands brings stability to the active species, while ligand flexibility still allows for the approach of the substrate. In this review, the synthesis of several types of new classes, such as IBiox, cyclic alkyl amino carbenes (CAAC), ITent, and IPr* are discussed, as well as how they move the state-of-the-art in palladium catalyzed cross-coupling forward.

Nanofiltration-Enabled In Situ Solvent and Reagent Recycle for Sustainable Continuous-Flow Synthesis

Solvent usage in the pharmaceutical sector accounts for as much as 90 % of the overall mass during manufacturing processes. Consequently, solvent consumption poses significant costs and environmental burdens. Continuous processing, in particular continuous-flow reactors, have great potential for the sustainable production of pharmaceuticals but subsequent downstream processing remains challenging. Separation processes for concentrating and purifying chemicals can account for as much as 80 % of the total manufacturing costs. In this work, a nanofiltration unit was coupled to a continuous-flow rector for in situ solvent and reagent recycling. The nanofiltration unit is straightforward to implement and simple to control during continuous operation. The hybrid process operated continuously over six weeks, recycling about 90 % of the solvent and reagent. Consequently, the E-factor and the carbon footprint were reduced by 91 % and 19 %, respectively. Moreover, the nanofiltration unit led to a solution of the product eleven times more concentrated than the reaction mixture and increased the purity from 52.4 % to 91.5 %. The boundaries for process conditions were investigated to facilitate implementation of the methodology by the pharmaceutical sector.