Commercially available metathesis catalysts could provide drugs manufacturers with new opportunities.

Olefin metathesis is one of the most versatile ways of making carbon-carbon bonds and the process has been exploited by petrochemical, polymer, and specialty chemical industries to process simple hydrocarbons for almost 50 years.

The creation of well-defined transition-metal catalyst has led to an explosion of metathesis catalysts and processes based on metathesis, many targeting natural products and compounds of interest to pharmacists, Chemical & Engineering News reports.

Metathesis is gradually starting to move outside the industrial chemical sector and commercial pharmaceutical manufacturing is starting to look at the possibility of using catalysts outside the laboratory, with several commercial applications currently in development.

The amount of catalyst needed for industrial pharmaceutical use and a number of technical issues are still deterring companies from using metathesis on a larger scale, but scientists are working to develop more active catalysts with longer life times to address the issue.

China is expected to drive the global nanotechnology and catalysts market this year, a new report claims. Research firm RNCOS predicts that nanoscience will gain huge investment over the next twenty years, bringing about radical changes in the pharmaceutical industry.

Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey launched a new class of ruthenium catalysts late last year; licensed from Ciba Specialty Chemicals, its entries contain bidentate pyridine-alkoxide ligands and either a PCy₃ or triisopropylphosphine ligand.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd