Chiral Quest launches first kilo-scale product
C3-TunePhos, designed for use in the synthesis of a range of drugs,
including the cholesterol-lowering statin class.
The subsidiary of VioQuest Pharmaceuticals said that the product is avalable for commercial-scale shipping in kilogramme quantities, and is the first catalyst that the company is making available in such large quantities.
Chiral Quest has already begun shipping the catalyst to large pharmaceutical and fine chemical companies, and this marks a significant milestone for the company, which to date has offered smaller quantities of catalysts for research purposes.
C3-TunePhos is one of a group of chiral biaryl phosphines with an optimised bite angle. For example, Ruthenium C3-TunePhos complexes can be used to hydrogenate ethyl 4-chloroacetate in a high selectivity (up to 99 per cent enantiomeric excesses), high activity (9 tonnes per kilo of the catalyst) and under mild operating conditions.
This reduction product is a key piece for making lipid-lowering agents such as atorvastatin, the active ingredient in Pfizer's Lipitor which is the top selling drug in the world with annual sales of more than $10 billion.
Ruthenium C3-TunePhos complexes can also be used for hydrogenation of alkenes to make chiral cyclic beta-amino acids, and asymmetric hydrogenation of amino ketones to generate a variety of chiral amino alcohols, said Chiral Quest.
