Safe, inexpensive iron catalysts provide a 'greener' alternative to typical pharmaceutical production methods
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - 07:30
in Physics & Chemistry
More than one-quarter of all known pharmaceuticals contain the chemical group known as amides: carboxylic acid derivatives derived from ammonia or amines. Most methods for synthesizing amides, however, are inefficient and use hazardous reagents. New work from Anqi Chen and co-workers at the A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences in Singapore promises to make amide chemistry more economical and sustainable than before. The team has uncovered a way to convert aldehydes and amine salts into amides using iron(II) sulfate—a harmless, inexpensive substance as the catalyst to perform this transformation efficiently and with little waste.