In drug discovery, microwaves are common tools for heating reactions to high temperatures and pressures so that it is possible to synthesize compounds in minutes that might otherwise take hours by conventional heating. However, another environment where this is a considerable advantage is in the teaching laboratory. By greatly speeding reaction rates, students can try multi-step synthesis is a single day, and look at the effect of altering reaction conditions on products and yields.

The Biotage® Selekt Flash purification system is designed for the rapid and simple isolation of target molecules from complex mixtures. Typically, this is seen in the area of drug discovery, where large numbers of molecules are synthesized in order to find active pharmaceutical ingredients for future pharmaceutical use. However, flash purifications can be employed in any work that involves the requirement to purify compounds, which is most branches of chemistry.

Chromatography is a common tool of the chemistry laboratory, and most chemists involved in synthesis have a good idea how automated flash purification system work on the lab bench. However, knowing how to take purifications from the laboratory to a manufacturing environment is a different question altogether.

Up to six compounds can be easily separated with an automated step-gradient optimizer embedded in modern flash chromatography systems.

Learn more about how to get in control of your Flash Purification.

With Biotage® Selekt and Sfär chemists can be in full control of Flash Purification. 

The synthesis of new chemical entities certainly has a high environmental cost due to the chemicals employed, especially in flash column chromatography, where large quantities of solvents are routinely used. The previous article in this series presented three strategies that can greatly reduce the environmental impact of your flash purifications: (1) purifying more product with less silica, and solvent, (2) making green chemistry work for you, such as changing to more environmentally friendly solvents, and (3) optimizing chromatography with more effective step gradients. Let’s look at how new developments in column design, simplifications in step gradients, and support from a leader in flash column chromatography can help in making your operation greener.

 

Chemistry, by its very nature, involves the use of chemicals that can be harmful, toxic and potentially damaging to the environment, which means that drug discovery currently has a large and expensive environmental footprint. However, all is not lost. With a few small steps it is possible to make a big change to the impact that drug discovery has on our world. Let’s look at ways we can reduce the environmental impact of chemical processing and flash chromatography. This involves using green chemistry applications in the purification workflow to find a solution that reduces chemical waste to make it good for both the chemist and the environment.

Chromatographic purification methods such as flash chromatography can have a high environmental impact since they typically involve large quantities of harmful or toxic solvents run at high flow rates. In many laboratories the cost of procuring and then disposing of these solvents can be a major part of the overall cost of projects. For the chemist, trying to reduce the environmental impact of small molecule synthesis is part of being a good global citizen. Here are three strategies that greatly reduce the environmental impact of flash purifications. It can also save money in the long run by reducing the cost of chemical waste disposal.