A DYNAMIC AND FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING PLATFORM: INTENSIFYING BIOCATALYSIS FOR FRAGRANCE AND API PRODUCTION

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Chemists can make novel compounds and materials, but the tools of synthetic methodology must be continuously expanded and improved for the sustainable production of compounds and materials as the needs from society for new or improved medicines and other compounds are high. Environmentally benign processes to satisfy that demand will increase the quality of life in many aspects. In our proposed research program, we will introduce a new method for mixing solutions during a reaction. The benefits of such high-performance mixing are numerous, shortened reaction times and therefore much higher productivities are envisioned which we could already demonstrate during preliminary experiments. In close collaboration with an SME company, Bioextractions Wales, we plan to synthesise fragrance molecules using this approach. After having established the principle and taken first steps to upscale some of the processes with the help of larger equipment available at BioExtractions Wales, we will extend the use of biocatalytic processes to the production of compounds (API's) necessary for the synthesis of drug molecules. Also, these technically more demanding reactions will be performed on a large scale at the companies' site. In addition, we will investigate the 'strength' of mixing and the relation to the outcome of the enzymatic reactions, before introducing further and automated optimisation through inline analysis of the reaction mixtures. This will all support the overall target of this proposal, which is the development of new and efficient processes for the environmentally friendly and resource-cautious industrial-scale synthesis of compounds used as fragrances and for the synthesis of drugs.