A team of US researchers claim to have developed a new synthesis strategy using a rhodium catalyst capable of designing and manufacturing novel pharmaceutical compounds more quickly and more efficiently.

The method, which was developed by a team at the University of Buffalo, and has since been used by a biotech firm called Dirhodium Technologies, could improve the production of new drugs based on small molecule organic compounds - which have been problematic in many new drug applications.

The application of the rhodium based catalyst has had a major impact on results, with one gram capable of producing 10 kilograms of a pharmaceutical product, according to Huw ML Davies, PhD, UB Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry, who authored a report on the research for Nature magazine.

Mr Davies told the University of Buffalo website: "If you tend to make things by methods that have been around for 100 years, there's a decent chance that you'll make something that's already known or is very close to something that is.

"But if you use an entirely new strategy like the one we developed, virtually every reaction you run will result in a new structural entity. That's critical to drug development."

The synthesis strategy has so far resulted in compounds which could be used to combat cancer as well disorders of the central nervous system.

Source:

New Method Enables Design, Production of Extremely Novel Drugs, 24/01/08
http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9097

Catalytic C–H functionalization by metal carbenoid and nitrenoid insertion, 24/01/08
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7177/abs/nature06485.html;jsessionid=FE0BD040609D15896488F3E0FF656831


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