Reaxa's eighth EnCat goes platinum

Pharmaceutical technologies company Reaxa has introduced platinum EnCat - Pt(0) EnCat40 - for market trials. This latest addition to its family of EnCat encapsulated catalysts is a versatile hydrogenation catalyst with platinum encapsulated within polymer beads.

It demonstrates high chemoselectivity and allows easier, faster and cleaner processes to be developed, according to Reaxa.

The isolation of active platinum within a polymer matrix has produced an easily handled and safer alternative to conventional platinum on carbon catalyst, which can be highly pyrophoric.

Platinum EnCat allows hydrogenation of sensitive substrates where other reduction catalysts fail to achieve the required selectivity, the company claims. It stresses application examples of highly selective aryl nitro hydrogenations in the presence of functionalities such as chlorine with very low dehalogenation - and of highly selective reductive aminations, reducing imines over aryl aldehydes, again in the presence of halides.

'Platinum EnCat extends the proven benefits of encapsulation technology to a further range of applications, with the bonus of easier, safer handling than a carbon-based alternative,' said Reaxa ceo Dr Pete Jackson. 'Pt(0) EnCat 40 also complements Reaxa's existing hydrogenation catalyst, Pd EnCat 30 NP, introduced to give a similar improvement on palladium on carbon.

'Showing the same benefits as Pd EnCat 30 NP and accessing processes where palladium catalysed reductions are inappropriate or unsuccessful, platinum EnCat further extends the scope of EnCat reactions.'

Pt EnCat40 is the eighth product to join Reaxa's EnCat line. The most recent prior addition was the innovative osmium EnCat - OsO4 EnCat - unlocking the potential of osmium tetroxide to be a useful oxidation catalyst.