Enantiomerically pharmaceuticals

A study was conducted to measure the concentration of D-fenfluramine HCl (desired product) and L-fenfluramine HCl (enantiomeric impurity) in the final pharmaceutical product, in the possible presence of its isomeric variants (57). Sensitivity, stabiUty, and specificity were enhanced by derivatizing the analyte with 3,5-dinitrophenylisocyanate using a Pirkle chiral recognition approach. Analysis of the caUbration curve data and quaUty assurance samples showed an overall assay precision of 1.78 and 2.52%, for D-fenfluramine HCl and L-fenfluramine, with an overall intra-assay precision of 4.75 and 3.67%, respectively. The minimum quantitation limit was 50 ng/mL, having a minimum signal-to-noise ratio of 10, with relative standard deviations of 2.39 and 3.62% for D-fenfluramine and L-fenfluramine. 

The recognition of differences in the pharmacological activity of enantiomeric molecules has created the need to administer them - and therefore to obtain them -as isolated enantiomers. However, nowadays this problem affects not only the pharmaceutical industry, but also the agrochemical industry and food additive producers, both of which are increasingly concerned by this subject. 

Enantiomeric separations have become increasingly important, especially in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries as optical isomers often possess different biological properties. The analysis and preparation of a pure enantiomer usually involves its resolution from the antipode. Among all the chiral separation techniques, HPLC has proven to be the most convenient, reproducible and widely applicable method. Most of the HPLC methods employ a chiral selector as the chiral stationary phase (CSP). 

Mourier s report was quickly followed by successful enantiomeric resolutions on stationary phases bearing other types of chiral selectors, including native and deriva-tized cyclodextrins and derivatized polysaccharides. Many chiral compounds of pharmaceutical interest have now been resolved by packed column SFC, including antimalarials, (3-blockers, and antivirals. A summary is provided in Table 12-2. Most of the applications have utilized modified CO, as the eluent. 

There are circumstances in which it is not possible to obtain the required enantiomer at manufacturing scale either by synthesis or isolation, e.g. because of difficulties with scale-up or failure to obtain material in a suitable physical form for pharmaceutical manufacture. In such cases, all the experimental results available should be described and the reason for the failure given. Likewise, if enantiomeric material could not be obtained for preclinical and clinical studies (see below), this should also be discussed. Advances in preparative techniques should eventually make this scenario less common. 

In a catalytic asymmetric reaction, a small amount of an enantio-merically pure catalyst, either an enzyme or a synthetic, soluble transition metal complex, is used to produce large quantities of an optically active compound from a precursor that may be chiral or achiral. In recent years, synthetic chemists have developed numerous catalytic asymmetric reaction processes that transform prochiral substrates into chiral products with impressive margins of enantio-selectivity, feats that were once the exclusive domain of enzymes.56 These developments have had an enormous impact on academic and industrial organic synthesis. In the pharmaceutical industry, where there is a great emphasis on the production of enantiomeri-cally pure compounds, effective catalytic asymmetric reactions are particularly valuable because one molecule of an enantiomerically pure catalyst can, in principle, direct the stereoselective formation of millions of chiral product molecules. Such reactions are thus highly productive and economical, and, when applicable, they make the wasteful practice of racemate resolution obsolete. 

Asymmetric catalysts these are still relatively rare in industrial processes but they are playing an increasingly important role in the development of pharmaceuticals. This is because they offer one of the most efficient, low-waste methods for producing enantiomerically pure compounds. 

The importance of producing pharmaceuticals in enantiomerically pure forms was brought to the public s attention with the thalidomide (Formula 4.2) tragedy in the early 1960s. Thalidomide, as a racemic mixture, was originally produced in 1953 as a sedative and a non-addictive alternative to barbiturates. It was later found that it alleviated many of the unpleasant symptoms of early pregnancy but by 1961 its use had been linked with an increase in the number of severe birth deformities and it was withdrawn. It... 

By the enzymatic esterification of diglycerol with lauric acid, the corresponding monolaurate ester is obtained [84]. This is an important industrial reaction for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and feed industries, since this ester is used as biodegradable non-ionic surfactant. In recent years, the synthesis of this and other polyglycerols with fatty acids has attracted growing interest in industry, leading also to a demand for enantiomerically and isomerically pure products. 

In the case of chiral molecules that are biologically active the desired activity almost always resides in only one of the enantiomers. The other enantiomer constitutes isomeric ballast that does not contribute towards the desired activity and may even exhibit unwanted side effects. Hence, there is a marked trend in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and flavours and fragrances towards the marketing of products as enantiomerically pure compounds. This, in turn, has generated a demand for economical methods for the synthesis of pure enantiomers (Sheldon, 1993a). 

Homogeneous catalysis has an important role to play in enantioselective reactions. To improve product safety, the pharmaceutical industry is producing an increasing number of products in enantiomerically pure form. Other important (future) markets include agrochemicals, polymers and fine chemicals. Although the number of practised processes is quite small the potential is high. 

Numerous endogenous substances and commercially available pharmaceuticals are racemic mixtures. Therefore, it is an important problem of clinical chemistry to develop methods for resolution of enantiomers and for establishing enantiomeric purity, because these substances exhibit different biological and physiological... 

The pharmaceutical industry has been giving increased attention to homogeneous asymmetric hydrogenation for the synthesis of chiral molecules due to significant improvements in this technology (1). We recendy synthesized a chiral a-amino acid intermediate using Et-DuPhos-Rh catalyst, obtaining enantiomeric pmities (EP) of... 

An alternative to extraction crystallization is used to obtain a desired enantiomer after asymmetric hydrolysis by Evonik Industries. In such a way, L-amino acids for infusion solutions or as intermediates for pharmaceuticals are prepared [35,36]. For example, non-proteinogenic amino acids like L-norvaline or L-norleucine are possible products. The racemic A-acteyl-amino acid is converted by acylase 1 from Aspergillus oryzae to yield the enantiopure L-amino acid, acetic acid and the unconverted substrate (Figure 4.7). The product recovery is achieved by crystallization, benefiting from the low solubility of the product. The product mixture is filtrated by an ultrafiltration membrane and the unconverted acetyl-amino acid is reracemized in a subsequent step. The product yield is 80% and the enantiomeric excess 99.5%. 

Enantiometrically pure alcohols are important and valuable intermediates in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other fine chemicals. A variety of synthetic methods have been developed to obtain optically pure alcohols. Among these methods, a straightforward approach is the reduction of prochiral ketones to chiral alcohols. In this context, varieties of chiral metal complexes have been developed as catalysts in asymmetric ketone reductions [ 1-3]. However, in many cases, difficulties remain in the process operation, and in obtaining sufficient enantiomeric purity and productivity [2,3]. In addition, residual metal in the products originating from the metal catalyst presents another challenge because of the ever more stringent regulatory restrictions on the level of metals allowed in pharmaceutical products [4]. An alternative to the chemical asymmetric reduction processes is biocatalytic transformation, which offers... 

The usefulness of the carbonyl reductase from Candida magnoliae as an enzyme catalyst in the synthesis of chiral alcohol intermediates has been demonstrated by carrying out the reduction of several ketones on a preparative scale [56]. The isolated yields and enantiomeric excess of the product alcohols are summarized in Table 7.1, from which it can be seen that these chiral alcohols were obtained in essentially optically pure forms in excellent yields. These chiral alcohols are important intermediates in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals. For example, optically active 2-hydroxy-3-methylbutyrate is an important chiral synthon... 

---