Raw Materials: Choice and Sourcing
Prof. Attilio Citterio
PhD
IN INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING (CII)
Raw Materials and Market
• It is imperative to select the correct raw materials when new synthetic routes need to be designed to produce target products.
• For example, the synthetic route selection for new fine chemicals may evolve in the development process, when the early stages of a
synthetic route can be changed without changing the quality or impurity profile of the final drug substance.
• But raw material choice can influence not only the synthetic route but the whole development process.
• The researcher working on development and scale up needs to have a wide knowledge of the fine chemicals market so that he knows not only what available but also what can be made available cheaply.
• Often the only reason a chemical is not available in bulk is lack of demand and not difficulty of synthesis.
Raw Materials and Market
Whilst it is very easy for the lab chemist to track down sources of laboratory chemicals either through the well-known catalogues or
through computer search facilities such as Aldrich or other databases,* it is comparatively difficult to identify the bulk and usually primary sources of even simple fine chemicals, used as raw materials.
It is important for development researcher and engineer to discover the primary source of raw materials since,
• A cheaper price can usually be obtained by disintermediation but more importantly,
Raw Materials and Market
• The quality of raw material will be typical of that used in the future in bulk manufacture and processes are best developed as easily as possible using this grade of material, rather than a “purified” grade sold by a catalogue company.
• Take full advantage of free samples of up to 1 kg which may be available for testing purposes, and detailed analytical and QC information which can often be obtained from the primary source.
The following are compendia which may assist in the process of
sourcing. The disadvantage of many of these compendia are that they take so long to produce that the data is inaccurate by the time they go to press.
Companies change their product range annually and it is difficult for
Compendia for Raw Materials
1. Directory of Chemical Products, published by SRI International
2. Directory of World Chemical Producers, published by Chemical Information Services Ltd, Oceanside, New York, 2007.
3. Some compendia with on line searching facility
• Chemical Sources USA, Directories Publishing Company Florida.
• Chemical Industry Directory, Benn, UK
• Chemcyclopedia, ed. A F Plant, American Chemical Society, Washington.
How is Sourcing Information Acquired?
• A Chemical Development Department should ideally maintain files of the listings of as many companies as possible.
• Some companies not only produce excellent glossy brochures, but also interesting reviews on how their products can be applied in industry. These brochures can be obtained through magazines such as Chemical and Engineering News, Specialty Chemicals, Performance chemicals.
• Attend exhibitions such as ChemSpec, Dechema, etc. where most fine chemical companies now exhibit and have lots of especially produced information. This is a good place to make contacts which may be useful in the future re sourcing.
• Control access to it to ensure that it is kept in reasonable order and that files do not go missing.
How is Sourcing Information Acquired?
• Accessing information which is probably hazard organized, in
alphabetical order of company, rather than on the basis of chemical compounds. I have yet to find a satisfactory answer to this. Placing all information on computer records would be time consuming, but very beneficial.
• Some companies only list products which are currently in production.
They may have processes developed in the past to make lots of compounds which are not listed, owing to lack of demand. or may have developed processes which have not yet been tested on plant.
(Conversely, many companies place products on their list when only lab quantities have been made). Only when enquiries from a customer is received is the expensive development work carried out.
How is Sourcing Information Acquired?
• However, fine chemical companies are on the look-out for new
business and are keen to develop processes to key raw materials if required. But one needs to know who to approach. A thorough
knowledge of the fine chemical market is required.
• A further alternative if stuck for a source is to use an agent/trader who usually has a fund of knowledge on where to obtain raw materials, particularly outside Europe, or to use companies such as Interchem and Chemical Exchange Directory, who may charge for their services.
• Of course, at the end of the day, one may still draw a blank. If a
synthetic route looks promising based on a raw material which is only available in lab quantities, then there are three alternatives.
Databases Available at No Cost
Some databases are available free of charge. They give the bibliographic description (with the abstract) of the papers abstracted into these
databases. They are available via the Internet.
http://www.refdoc.fr/Noticeresultat Examples INIST (CNRS France)
Search made with the terms: palm oil
Lubrication properties of trimethylolpropane esters based on palm oil and palm kernel oils.
European journal of lipid science and technology 2004, vol. 106, pp. 52-60 Department of Chemical Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Advanced Oleochemical Technology Center, … Yunus Robiah, Fakhru’l-Razi, Tianlyeool Iyuke, Perez Joseph
Abstract: E due to the global drive towards biodegradable products, trimethylolpropane [2-ethyl-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanedial](TMP) esters based on palm kernels oil ...
http://www.refdoc.fr/Noticeresultat
Refdoc.fr Results
Another Free Database: MEDLINE and
12Related Data
Medline (suite)
The Journal Editors
Many journal editors developed databases available to the public.
These databases allow to search the journals edited and to reach the articles present. Example from ELSEVIER
One of the hits obtained with the words palm oil
ScienceDirect
http://www.info.sciencedirect.com/
ScienceDirect
Where to Find these Free Access Journals ?
https://scholar.google.it/ o https://www.google.it/
Where to Find these Free Access Journals ?
http://www.doaj.org/
Where to Find these Free Access Journals ?
http://isdm.univ-tln.fr/isdm.html
Data Science Journal (CODATA Journal)
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/dsj
Chemical Abstracts, one of the best
21database in the World
Covers Chemistry and related domains (biochemistry, physical chemistry, patents, dissertation, symposium in this field,
CA SEARCH®: CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS®
ONTAP® CA SEARCH®: CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS®(FILE 204) Last Loaded on Web: Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Chemical Abstracts, one of the best database in the World Last Update To Bluesheet: January 23, 2003
10
File Description
The CA SEARCH®: Chemical Abstracts® database includes over 17 million citations to the worldwide literature of chemistry and its applications from 1967 forward. CA SEARCH corresponds to the bibliographic information and complete indexing found in the print Chemical Abstracts® published by CAS® (Chemical Abstracts Service). The controlled vocabulary CA General Subject Index Headings, related general subject terminology from the CA Index
Guide, and CAS® Registry Numbers, each with its modifying phrase are included. Chemical substances are represented by CAS® Registry Numbers, unique numbers assigned to each specific chemical compound: corresponding substance information may be searched in the DIALOG chemical substance files such as CHEMSEARCHTM (File 398). All records from the 8th Collective Index (CI) period forward are contained in File 399; Files 308-314 contain records from the individual CI periods as indicated in the File Data.
Searches conducted via Dialog®Web Guided Search give customers the option to order the abstracts from CAS®, via remote links, integrated in the Dialog® search results.
Chemical Abstracts
Subject Coverage
Coverage includes a broad spectrum of chemical information that includes both the basic and applied chemical sciences. Included are studies of elementary subatomic particles, elements, compounds, and other substances, and their occurrence, composition, structure, preparation, properties, reactions, detection, and determination. The following principal areas of chemical applications and technologies of chemical substances are included:
• Analytical and Physical Chemistry
• Applied Chemistry
• Biochemistry and Biology
• Chemical Engineering Chemical Abstracts
• Environmental Chemistry
• Macromolecular Chemistry
• Organic and Inorganic Chemistry
• Pharmaceuticals
• Properties and Reactions
• Radiation Chemistry
• Toxicology
At Politecnico di Milano is active the
“SCIFINDER”
suite for any research on published papers,
ISI Web of Knowledge,
23ISI Web of Science
Books on “Strategy in Organic Synthesis”
1. E. J. Corey, X-M Cheng, The Logic of Organic Synthesis, Wiley, NY, 1989.
2.. S. Hanessian, Total Synthesis of Natural Products: The ‘Chiron’ Approach (Pergamon Press, London, 1983). S. Hanessian, S. Giroux, B.L. Merner, “Design and Strategy in Organic
Synthesis: From the Chiron Approach to Catalysis” Wiley-VCH; 2013.
3. Organic Synthesis, Ed. J Fuhrlop and G. Penzin. VCH, Weinheirn, 1987.
4. S. Warren: Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach, 2^ Ed. Wiley, 2009.
5. Paul Wyatt, Stuart Warren, Workbook of Organic Synthesis: Strategy and Control, Wiley, 2008.
6. P. Pollack, Fine Chemicals: The Industry and the Business, Wiley, 2007. C.S. Rao The Chemistry of Process Development in Fine Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry 2008 7. S. Lee, G. Robinson, Process Development: Fine Chemicals from Grams to Kilograms,
Oxford, 1995.
8. K. C. Nicolaou, J. S. Chen, “Classics in Total Synthesis III: Further Targets, Strategies, Methods” Wiley-VCH; 2011.
9. P. G. M. Wuts et al. “Greene's Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis” 5th Ed. Wiley, 2014.
