Green Chemistry Innovations: Pioneering Sustainable Solutions in Pharmaceuticals

ACSGCI
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Eight initiatives will be funded by the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable, supporting innovative projects in green and sustainable chemistry.

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The ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable (GCIPR) is addressing the urgent need for green and sustainable chemistry solutions in the pharmaceutical and allied chemical industries. To support innovative ideas that can offer sustainable solutions, eight research groups have received funds from the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable (GCIPR), amounting to $480,000 in total funding. 

Receiving $80K targeted research area grants:

Researchers Walter Cabri, Alessandra Tolomelli, and Lucia Ferrazzano of the University of Bologna received a research award for their project, titled "New technology for continuous flow liquid-phase sustainable synthesis of therapeutic peptides," which will focus on developing a sustainable oligopeptide synthesis method, specifically LPPS, using a flow iterative process to reduce PMI and operation time. Successful completion of this project holds the potential to revolutionize peptide synthesis methods.

Grant-winner Hans Renata of Rice University will investigate "Biocatalytic Synthesis of Phosphorothioate-Containing Nucleosides" with the aim to pioneer a biocatalytic method for synthesizing phosphorothioate-containing nucleosides, a crucial modification in therapeutic oligonucleotides to prevent nuclease-dependent degradation. The project’s ultimate goal is to explore the potential for total biocatalytic synthesis of cyclic dinucleotides from free nucleosides in future applications.

For their project titled “Realizing the advantages of alternating polarity electrosynthesis at constant potential through controlled mass transport,” Marcel Schreier and Shannon Stahl of the University of Wisconsin Madison won a grant in the electrochemistry area. The proposed research project seeks to harness the advantages of alternating polarity electrosynthesis at a constant potential, employing controlled mass transport techniques for pharmaceutical production. 

The research of principal investigators Andrew Teixeira and Patricia Musacchio of Worcester Polytechnic Institute received funding in the field of photochemistry. Their research aims to tackle the challenges of light penetration in photochemical reactions using an innovative micro-LED packed bed reactor. The project, “Overcoming light penetration challenges in photochemical reactions through a micro-LED packed bed reactor” will aim to develop a scalable and efficient system for conducting photocatalytic transformations.

Receiving $40,000 ignition grants:

  • Jeffrey Lipshultz, Stony Brook University, for his work, “Aminomutase-Inspired Green Radical Amination.”
  • Marvin Parasram, New York University, for his work, “Dihydroxylation of Propellanes via Tandem Cycloaddition/Hydrogenation of Photoexcited Nitroarenes.”
  • Bruce Arndtsen, McGill University, for his work, “A Versatile Approach to Carboxylic Acid Derivatives with Earth Abundant Catalysts and Visible Light.”
  • Neil Dixon, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, for his work, “Sustainable Solvent Production.”

Requests for Proposals on new research topics are issued yearly each March by the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable. In total, the ACS GCIPR grant program has distributed over $4 million in green chemistry research funding since its inception. For more information, see: https://www.acsgcipr.org/grants/