Epoxides are used as intermediates in a number of reactions involved in the manufacture of chiral or single-isomer drugs and fine chemicals. Bayer's scientists have adapted a reaction for the asymmetric epoxidation of unsaturated carbonyl compounds - originally developed in the 1980s by Sebastian Juliá and Stefano Colonna - to make it suitable for large-scale, industrial applications.
"We have developed an improved process for the production of the polyamino acids that are employed as chiral catalysts," commented Wilhelm Stahl, Head of Research and Development at the Bayer's Fine Chemicals business unit.
The use of a special co-catalyst reduces the required amounts of catalysts, bases and oxidising agents and shortens reaction times, he said.
The new process is just one of a number of new developments at Bayer that will be presented at the INFORMEX trade fair, that will take place later this month in Las Vegas, US.
A new product that will be launched at the show is Fluorinox, a new class of fluorination reagents that the company says offer a cost-effective and easily scalable alternative for the stereoselective replacement of hydroxyl groups with fluorine or the transformation of carbonyl functions into geminal difluorides. Fluorination reactions are often used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.
Finally, Bayer will be presenting new research in the field of carbon-nitrogen (C-N) and carbon-oxygen (C-O) couplings on an industrial scale.
"Based on the method developed by Stephen Buchwald at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and in cooperation with Rhodia Pharma Solutions, we have succeeded in scaling up the production of carbon heteroatomic compounds for various target molecules," said Stahl.
Bayer recently succeeded in bringing this technology to production scale, including synthesis of phosphane ligands that are used in the reaction, he added.