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OPRD solvent survey

28 March 2015 - Data mining

A group of researchers from Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have been datamining the journal Organic Process Research & Development for solvents and report about it here. The chemistry detailed in this journal may be typical of what is happening in chemistry industry with procedures in the 1 to 100 Kg scale and therefore highly relevant. Here are the key findings based on 388 publications starting from 1997. The good news: chlorinated solvents are in decline. The bad news: overall the solvents with environmental issues are continued to be used. One of them dioxane is actual on the increase due to its popularity in Suzuki and Buchwald reactions. In the dipolar aprotic solvent section most popular are ugly acetonitrile, DMF and DMSO on account of their utility in nucleophilic substitution reactions. Greener alternatives such as acetone, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran or phase transfer catalysts are ignored?