Biphasic Catalytic Asymmetric Hydrogenation Process

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A major change in pharmaceutical manufacturing is the current shift from batch to continuous processing. Manufacturing costs account for 36% of the industries costs and continuous processing can reduce operating expenses by at least 90% and capital expenses by at least 50%. The FDA and industry are working to bring continuous processing to pharmaceutical manufacturing. The use of enantioselective catalysts is another means to reduce costs. Homogeneous catalysts are able to produce chiral drugs and intermediates with very high enantioselectivity. Unfortunately, these processes suffer problems, it is very difficult to remove the expensive catalyst from the reaction mixture and the reactions used to make active ingredients in the pharmaceutical industry have typically been carried out as batch reactions. One of the most important classes of homogeneous chiral reactions is asymmetric hydrogenation, which is used to make a variety of active ingredients, including Vitamin E, Carbapenem, S-Oxafloxazin and Aspartame. The goal of this proposal is to develop an asymmetric hydrogenation process that allows the continual feed, reaction, separation and reuse of a chiral catalyst resulting in dramatic saving in process costs.