Use of Clean Chemical Technologies in the Synthesis of Drug Molecules

The aim of this work was to apply green chemistry techniques and principles, to the synthesis of typical pharmaceutical intermediates and to bridge the “gap” between academia and industry. Two synthetic routes have been the focus for study; synthesis of the drug, salbutamol and secondly a generic synthesis which combines many typical reactions important to the pharmaceutical industry, such as a Suzuki coupling, reduction, bromination and alkylation. These reactions provide opportunities to demonstrate clean alternatives to transformations of complex molecules which are regularly carried out by the pharmaceutical industry. Suzuki C-C bond forming reactions were studied under microwave activation utilising immobilised palladium for the first time, and with significant success. A novel, renewable, high surface area catalyst support has been prepared and used to develop a catalyst which is highly active in Suzuki, Heck and Sonogashira coupling reactions. A novel green chemistry metric has been developed. By measuring the electricity required for reactions using different methods of synthesis and different products can be compared in terms of energy utilisation.