Building-Block Optimization

Additionally, one can change the support materials to ones with different pore-size distributions or inner surface or surface acidity. All these parameters also influence the catalytic performance, so that a wide space for optimizations opens. On one hand, the materials themselves (catalyst, IL, and support material) can be changed, but on the other hand, the parameters of the materials can also be altered. In this case, the loadings of both the catalytic material and IL can be changed to achieve better activity, selectivity, or space-time yield (STY). In the following section, optimization of these building blocks is exemplified for WGS SILP catalysts. 

In a first step of optimization, a set of 51 catalyst precursors were screened for their activity in WGS reaction at 120 C at ambient pressure and a model gas stream consisting of 10% carbon monoxide, 20% water vapor, and the balance nitrogen [59]. It is worth mentioning that the absence of reaction products such as hydrogen or carbon dioxide clearly influences the activity, but in this first phase a simple system was chosen. 

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In contrast, there are fewer limitations from the chemical point of view. The preparation of large, well-defined, libraries that involve amino acid building blocks has been demonstrated many times. Carefully optimized reaction conditions for the preparation of other mixed libraries can also ensure that each desired compound is present in sufficient amount. However, the reaction rates of some individual selectors with the activated solid support may be lower than that of others. As a result, the more reactive selectors would occupy a majority of the sites within the beads. Since the most reactive selectors may not be the most selective, testing of a slightly larger number of specifically designed CSPs may be required to reduce the effect of falsenegative results. 

Optimal pre-organization of the y-peptide backbone towards the formation of open-chain turn-like motifs is promoted by unlike-y " -amino acid residues. This design principle can be rationalized by examination of the two conformers free of syn-pentane interaction (f and II", Fig. 2.34). Tetrapeptide 150 built from homo-chiral unlike-y -amino acid building blocks 128e has been shown by NMR experiments in pyridine to adopt a reverse turn-like structure stabilized by a 14-mem-bered H-bond pseudocycle [202] (Fig. 2.37 A). 

The use of molecular biology methods, described in Section 5.3 seems to be especially worthwhile as it offers novel possibilities of optimization on process adjustment. Directed evolution leads to the formation of new biocatalysts with improved characteristics (selectivity, activity, stability, etc.). Incorporation ofnon-proteinogenic amino acids makes it possible to reach beyond the repertoire of building blocks used by nature. The prospect of bioconjugate preparation offers the possibility to form functional clusters of enzymes and to perform multiple synthetic steps in one pot. 

While alkane metathesis is noteworthy, it affords lower homologues and especially methane, which cannot be used easily as a building block for basic chemicals. The reverse reaction, however, which would incorporate methane, would be much more valuable. Nonetheless, the free energy of this reaction is positive, and it is 8.2 kj/mol at 150 °C, which corresponds to an equihbrium conversion of 13%. On the other hand, thermodynamic calculation predicts that the conversion can be increased to 98% for a methane/propane ratio of 1250. The temperature and the contact time are also important parameters (kinetic), and optimal experimental conditions for a reaction carried in a continuous flow tubiflar reactor are as follows 300 mg of [(= SiO)2Ta - H], 1250/1 methane/propane mixture. Flow =1.5 mL/min, P = 50 bars and T = 250 °C [105]. After 1000 min, the steady state is reached, and 1.88 moles of ethane are produced per mole of propane consmned, which corresponds to a selectivity of 96% selectivity in the cross-metathesis reaction (Fig. 4). The overall reaction provides a route to the direct transformation of methane into more valuable hydrocarbon materials. 

Similarly, whole-cell Lactobacillus kefir DSM 20587, which possesses two alcohol dehydrogenases for both asymmetric reduction steps, was applied in the reduction of tert-butyl 6-chloro-3,5-dioxohexanoate for asymmetric synthesis of ft rf-butyl-(31 ,5S)-6-chloro-dihydroxyhexanoate (Figure 7.5), a chiral building block for the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor [ 17]. A final product concentration of 120 him and a specific product capacity of 2.4 mmol per gram dry cell were achieved in an optimized fed-batch process. Ado 99% was obtained for (3R,5S)- and (3.S, 55)-te/ f-butyl-6-chloro-dihydroxyhexanoate with the space-time yield being 4.7 mmolL-1 h-1. 

With this set of five optimized reaction conditions in hand (Fig. 5.6), the production of a small DHPM library was performed. As a set of structurally diverse representative building blocks, 17 individual CH-acidic carbonyl compounds, 25 aldehydes, and 8 ureas/thioureas were chosen. Combination of all these building blocks would lead to a library of 3400 individual DHPMs. To demonstrate the practicability of the presented concept, a representative subset library of 48 DHPM analogues involving all of the aforementioned building blocks was generated [2],... 

Another method for preparing pyrrole rings is by Ugi-type three-component condensation (Scheme 6.184). In the protocol published by Tye and Whittaker [345], levulinic acid was reacted with two different isonitriles and four amine building blocks (1.5 equivalents) to provide a set of eight pyrrole derivatives. While the previously published protocol at room temperature required a reaction time of up to 48 h and provided only moderate product yields, the microwave method (100 °C, 30 min) optimized by a Design of Experiments (DoE) approach (see Section 5.3.4), led to high yields of the desired lactams for most of the examples studied. 

A different approach to quinoxalines and heterocycle-fused pyrazines has been described by the Lindsley group, based on the cyclocondensation of 1,2-diketones and aryl/heteroaryl 1,2-diamines (Scheme 6.260) [450]. Optimized reaction conditions involved heating an equimolar mixture of the diketone and diamine components for 5 min at 160 °C in a 9 1 methanol/acetic acid solvent mixture, which furnished the substituted quinoxalines in excellent yields. This approach could also be applied equally successfully to the synthesis of heteroaryl pyrazines, such as pyr-ido[2,3-b]pyrazines and thieno[3,4-b]pyrazines. The same group has employed 1,2-diketone building blocks for the preparation of other heterocyclic structures (see Schemes 6.198, 6.268, and 6.269). 

We note that optimal control is a universal tool for experiment design and has also, in solid-state NMR spectroscopy, found additional applications in the design of homonu-clear dipolar recoupling [41], broadband rf pulses and quantum gates [71], building blocks of symmetry-based recoupling experiments [129], quadrupolar multiple-quantum MAS experiments [165], and improved pulses for quadrupolar nuclei [166]. Numerous references to further applications with regard to liquid-state NMR can be found in [72]. 

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