Synetix offers route and branch development
Synetix Chiral Technologies grew out of Synetix, ICI's catalyst business based in Billingham in the UK. The separate business unit was set up in March 2000, dedicated to the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries, in response to the growing interest in these sectors in sophisticated catalysts. 'At the start, all we had was immobilisation,' explains commercial manager Denis Geffroy. 'And this was not enough to build a business. It is an important part, but we needed to grow the business into other areas.'
After a large amount of effort buying in a range of catalyst technology, Synetix has built up a huge library of available ligands and catalysts, and specialises in route development by testing many different ligands and reaction conditions by using high throughput screening. 'We don't make products or manufacture ingredients,' says Geffroy, 'but we develop the route, and then license the whole package to the pharma company. We can also supply the catalyst if they want.'
Synetix has filled its library of catalyst systems from a variety of different sources. Some, like Dipamp, are off patent. Others have been licensed from academics. And it has also licensed ligands from pharmaceutical companies, which had developed them for a specific use in-house, but they were then sitting otherwise unexploited on the shelf. These include ferrocenyl asymmetric phosphines from Aventis, and the PhanePhos ligands from Merck. In both these cases, the first job was to develop an efficient, robust synthesis, so the ligands were readily available.
The company also takes advantage of Synetix's expertise in immobilisation to create homogeneous catalysts. The ligands are immobilised on a porous silane derivative, which has a big advantage over other supports like Merrifield resins in that it does not need to swell, so there are fewer solvent problems, and smaller reactors are needed. As particles from µm to mm in diameter can be used, fixed bed processes are possible, which is much easier from a chemical engineering standpoint. Heterogeneous catalysts have another advantage, as Synetix's product manager, Fred Hancock, explains. 'Palladium prices are enormous, so you need to guarantee you will get it back, and heterogeneous catalyst are much easier to recover.'
A further bonus arising from immobilisation is that it can create a novel catalyst system that can then be patented. 'This means the customer can patent the ultimate process, which is particularly important for the fine chemicals industry which wants to avoid competition.' Unique routes like this can also help a pharmaceutical company obtain production patents for their APIs, and potentially extend the patent life of their final products.