Get into the flow of green chemistry

Published: 12-Mar-2012

Many pharma companies are now using flow chemistry in development projects. The use of a microreactor with small, micrometre-sized channels instead of a large batch reactor can reduce the hazards of exothermic reactions, allow smaller quantities of solvent to be used, and allow reactions to be run in more concentrated form. But flow chemistry does not have to be carried out in a specialist microreactor – it is also possible to use something more akin to a long, thin tube.

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Flow chemistry is proving its worth in increasing product yields and reducing reaction times. Dr Sarah Houlton reports on the move from batch to continuous reactors.

In an increasingly environmentally aware world, pressure is on all sectors to reduce carbon footprints and make business more sustainable. While some of the more upstream parts of the chemical industry, for example chlorine manufacture, will always be energy intensive and carbon-hungry, downstream sectors such as pharma manufacturing can be made ‘greener’.

A brief distillation of the 12 principles of green chemistry set out by Anastas and Warner in the late 1990s are laid out in Table 1, and it is clear that while some of these may be obvious, others require more thought and effort to implement, but if they are implemented creatively there is much opportunity for pharma to reduce its environmental impact.

Table 1: Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry
1. Prevent pollution and waste
2. Design safer products
3. Design less hazardous syntheses
4. Design safer chemicals
5. Use safer solvents
6. Improve energy efficiency
7. Use renewable feedstocks
8. Reduce derivatives
9. Use catalysts
10. Design for degradation
11. Prevent pollution with real-time analysis
12. Minimise accident potential

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