
A sustainable production route to anticonvulsant
Current manufacturing processes are unfortunately characterized by low atom efficiency. This means, that only a fraction of the materials used end up in the desired final product, while the majority of the material ultimately serves only as an auxiliary material and is thus produced as an unwanted by-product. Numerous purification steps are therefore necessary to separate these substances and ultimately obtain the desired product in high quality and purity. These separation processes additionally pollute the environment, consume a lot of energy and lead to high production costs of Keppra. Until now, the market has been dependent on these synthesis routes due to the lack of smart alternatives. Thanks to a new, revolutionary manufacturing method, these drugs could soon be produced in a more environmentally friendly and much more efficient way.
New synthesis route twice as effective as previous routes
Established methods, such as the classical Strecker synthesis, have the disadvantage of forming a racemate. This is a mixture of two substances that, metaphorically speaking, are like an image and its mirror image. However, only the image provokes the desired effect. The inactive mirror image has no effect or it could cause side effects in patients and must therefore be separated from the desired active substance as unwanted waste. This is complex and wasteful. These factors have so far limited the yield of industrial production to less than 50 percent.The new synthesis utilizes an enzyme. A nitrile hydratase enzyme can select between blueprints of image and mirror image. The biocatalytic process produces only the image. By automatic recycling of the mirror image blueprint, the yield of the image theoretically increases to 100%, making the new route twice as effective as conventional production routes. As a final step, an oxygen atom is introduced with the help of periodate – finally producing the desired, finished active ingredient in pure form. The spent periodate is regenerated by electrical current and can be used again and again in a cost-saving and sustainable manner.
The new route offers the industry the added benefit of being more environmentally friendly in production as well, since the process can be carried out under mild conditions in an aqueous solution at room temperature and ambient pressure. Currently, the researchers are working to scale up the process to industrial size. The new route could be used by industry in a year’s time. The idea to merge biocatalysis with electrochemistry could also inspire the production of other pharmaceuticals to make them more efficient and much greener.
This article is based on the scientific publication “The sustainable synthesis of levetiracetam by an enzymatic dynamic kinetic resolution and an ex-cell anodic oxidation” in Green Chemistry, Issue 1, 2021
Picture credits: Gerd Altmann on Pixabay