AllessaSyntec has completed its first major large-scale project of a multi-step synthesis of a pharmaceutical intermediate in its new 1000-litre low-temperature reactor installed at its plant in Frankfurt-Hoechst, Germany.
The 1000L reactor can be operated at -100°C and maintains this temperature even during strongly exothermic reactions. These low temperatures are achieved by a heat transfer medium that is cooled down by liquid nitrogen, which holds a temperature of -196°C.
Following the low-temperature reaction, the vessel can be heated up for further reaction steps without a time delay to a temperature of up to +200°C. This allows exact synthesis conditions and an extended range of use, the company says. It also improves the yield and purity of the products. Apart from the synthesis of intermediates for APIs, the low-temperature reactor can be used in the manufacture of electronic materials and organometallic catalysts for the plastics industry.
"We have proven that the exclusive synthesis of high-value products at a technical scale can be offered faster and with high quality in the new, larger special reactor," said Dr Thomas Wisser, md of Allessa Syntec.
The company can also meet increased demand for complex organic boronic acids.
"This investment strengthens our core business: the fast transfer of new products from the laboratory to technical scale and the manufacturing of high-value products in the scale from several tens of kilograms up to 50 tons," added Wisser.
The company's first low-temperature reactor with a capacity of 100L was installed 1993, when the company was still part of Hoechst. A 500L reactor was added in 2000 and capacity has been further extended with the 1000L reactor.
AllessaSyntec's second key technology is high-pressure synthesis at up to 200 bar, where carbonylations, air oxidations and special hydrogenations are performed in a separate plant at Frankfurt-Hoechst.