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R
manufacturing R
Greener approaches
Green technologies process, the far more
Continuous processing effective strategy Chiral catalyst, H2 Transaminase
is to build in green
Solvent waste
chemistry design
Process mass intensity NH2 O
principles early in
(PMI) R R
R
the development R
E-Factor life cycle. This
processes to the minimum amount estimate life cycle analysis (LCA). developed a solvent selection
of required solvents also can A full LCA requires considerable guide that groups solvents into
have a large, positive impact more information, time and chemical classes and ranks their
on emissions reduction. resources. In an effort to quickly hazards with respect to safety,
estimate LCA in a cost-effective health and the environment
Green Metrics manner, a new version of the PMI (see Table 1) (8). The solvent
calculator is being developed to selection guide helps a chemist
The same benchmarking study estimate LCA based on the solvents make a more informed decision.
that found that solvents are the in the process (7). Another important tool which the
primary contributor to the process Pharmaceutical Roundtable has
mass intensity (PMI) of an API The benefit of tracking metrics is in development is a reagent
concluded that the mean PMI of to be able to drive improvements. guide that aims to identify the
the processes in the study was Companies have now begun to greenest possible reagents
120 kg/kg meaning that 120 kg set process development targets for the most used chemical
of raw materials were used to based on PMI. These targets are transformations.
manufacture 1 kg of API. By focusing generally internal guidelines that
on the inputs to a process, one can help communicate progress and Over the past decade, most
influence changes as the processes illustrate which processes need pharmaceutical companies have
and routes are being designed. improvements before moving adopted electronic lab notebooks
There are a number of green further into development. This (ELNs) as a means for recording
metrics to consider, but the two practice further integrates green and sharing experimental data.
most common in the industry are chemistry design principles early This paradigm shift has created
PMI and E-Factor (mass of waste in the development process. a unique opportunity to expose
per mass of API). It has been argued new scientists to green chemistry
that focusing on leading indicators Tools for Green Chemistry at the start of their professional
such as PMI will maximise value careers. Key green chemistry
and efficiency, with waste reduction One of the largest environmental metrics such as PMI, atom
a resulting benefit (5). impacts that can be made early economy and E-Factor can be
on in a drugs development life calculated and reported directly
PMI is not a perfect metric as it cycle is selection of as green a within the ELN without the need
does not include specific concerns solvent system as possible from to do secondary calculations (9).
regarding environment, health and the outset of development. In addition, an ELN is capable
safety of the materials involved or To encourage the greenest of linking to or launching a
the waste produced. However, it is possible solvent selection, the solvent selection guide. Thus,
an essential intermediate step to Pharmaceutical Roundtable has ELN technology has the unique