Ni/Photoredox-Catalyzed C(sp2)-C(sp3) Cross-Coupling of Alkyl Pinacolboronates and (Hetero)Aryl Bromides.

Utilizing quinoline as a mild, catalytic additive, broadly applicable conditions for the Ni/photoredox-catalyzed C(sp2)-C(sp3) cross-coupling of (hetero)aryl bromides and alkyl pinacolboronate esters were developed, which can be applied to both batch and flow reactions. In addition to primary benzylic nucleophiles, both stabilized and nonstabilized secondary alkyl boronic esters are effective coupling partners. Density functional theory calculations suggest that alkyl radical generation occurs from an alkyl-B(pin)-quinoline complex, which may proceed via an energy transfer process.

Microscale purification in support of high-throughput medicinal chemistry.

In recent years, successful assay miniaturization has enabled the exploration of synthesis scale reduction in pharmaceutical discovery. Miniaturization of pharmaceutical synthesis and purification allows a reduction in material consumption and shortens timelines, which ultimately reduces the cost per experiment without compromising data quality. Isolating and purifying the compounds of interest is a key step in the library synthesis process. In this manuscript we describe a high-throughput purification workflow in support of microscale (1-5 µmol or 0.5-2 mg) library synthesis. The optimized microscale purification system can routinely purify 384-well reaction plates with an analysis time of 4 min per sample. Instrument optimization, critical parameters such as column loading, delay time calibration, ultrafast pre- and post-purification analysis and library purification examples are provided.

Macrocyclic glycopeptide chiral selectors bonded to core-shell particles enables enantiopurity analysis of the entire verubecestat synthetic route.

Verubecestat is an inhibitor of ß-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) being evaluated in clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Synthetic route development involves diastereoselective transformations with a need for enantiomeric excess (ee) determination of each intermediate and final active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The analytical technical package of validated methods relies on enantioselective SFC and RPLC separations using multiple 3 and 5 µm coated polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs) and mobile phases combinations. Evaluation of recently developed chiral columns revealed a single chiral selector (Teicoplanin) bonded to 2.7 µm core-shell particles using H3PO4 in H2O/ACN and triethylammonium acetate: methanol based eluents at different isocratic compositions allowed good enatioseparation of all verubecestat intermediates. EE determination of verubecestat is easily performed on NicoShell, another macrocyclic glycopeptide chiral selector bonded to 2.7 µm superficially porous particles. This approach enables fast and reliable enantiopurity analysis of the entire verubecestat synthetic route using only two chiral columns and mobile phases on a conventional HPLC system, simplifying technical package preparation, method validation and transfer to manufacturing facilities.

Overcoming "speed limits" in high throughput chromatographic analysis.

The combination of high speed autosampler technology and ultrafast chromatographic separations enables faster high throughput analysis. With an injection cycle time of 10.6 s, MISER (Multiple Injection in a Single Experimental Run) HPLC-MS analysis of a 96 well microplate can be completed in only 17min. As chromatographic separations in the sub 5s range become increasingly common, even faster autosamplers will be needed to realize further speed improvements in high throughput LC-MS analysis. Indeed with proper hardware sampling approaches, chromatographic analysis of microplates could approach speeds of spectrophotometric plate readers while maintaining the advantage of multicomponent detection and monitoring.

Ultrafast Chiral Chromatography as the Second Dimension in Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography Experiments.

Chromatographic separation and analysis of complex mixtures of closely related species is one of the most challenging tasks in modern pharmaceutical analysis. In recent years, two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) has become a valuable tool for improving peak capacity and selectivity. However, the relatively slow speed of chiral separations has limited the use of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) as the second dimension in 2D-LC, especially in the comprehensive mode. Realizing that the recent revolution in the field of ultrafast enantioselective chromatography could now provide significantly faster separations, we herein report an investigation into the use of ultrafast chiral chromatography as a second dimension for 2D chromatographic separations. In this study, excellent selectivity, peak shape, and repeatability were achieved by combining achiral and chiral narrow-bore columns (2.1 mm × 100 mm and 2.1 mm × 150 mm, sub-2 and 3 µm) in the first dimension with 4.6 mm × 30 mm and 4.6 mm × 50 mm columns packed with highly efficient chiral selectors (sub-2 µm fully porous and 2.7 µm fused-core particles) in the second dimension, together with the use of 0.1% phosphoric acid/acetonitrile eluents in both dimensions. Multiple achiral × chiral and chiral × chiral 2D-LC examples (single and multiple heart-cutting, high-resolution sampling, and comprehensive) using ultrafast chiral chromatography in the second dimension are successfully applied to the separation and analysis of complex mixtures of closely related pharmaceuticals and synthetic intermediates, including chiral and achiral drugs and metabolites, constitutional isomers, stereoisomers, and organohalogenated species.

Ultrafast chiral separations for high throughput enantiopurity analysis.

Recent developments in fast chromatographic enantioseparations now make high throughput analysis of enantiopurity on the order of a few seconds achievable. Nevertheless, routine chromatographic determinations of enantiopurity to support stereochemical investigations in pharmaceutical research and development, synthetic chemistry and bioanalysis are still typically performed on the 5-20 min timescale, with many practitioners believing that sub-minute enantioseparations are not representative of the molecules encountered in day to day research. In this study we develop ultrafast chromatographic enantioseparations for a variety of pharmaceutically-related drugs and intermediates, showing that sub-minute resolutions are now possible in the vast majority of cases by both supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and reversed phase liquid chromatography (RP-LC). Examples are provided illustrating how such methods can be routinely developed and used for ultrafast high throughput analysis to support enantioselective synthesis investigations.

Instrumental Idiosyncrasies Affecting the Performance of Ultrafast Chiral and Achiral Sub/Supercritical Fluid Chromatography.

It is widely accepted that column technology is ahead of existing chromatographic instruments. The chromatographic output may not reflect the true picture of the peak profile inside the column. The instrumental optimization parameters become far more important when peaks elute in a few seconds. In this work, the low viscosity advantage of the supercritical/subcritical CO2 is coupled with the high efficiency of narrow particle size distribution silica. Using short efficient columns and high flow rates (up to 19 mL/min), separations on the order of a few seconds are demonstrated. In the domain of ultrafast supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), unexpected results are seen which are absent in ultrafast liquid chromatography. These effects arise due to the compressible nature of the mobile phase and detector idiosyncrasies to eliminate back-pressure regulator noise. We demonstrate unusual connection tubing effects with 50, 75, 127, 254, and 500 µm tubings and show the complex relation of dead time, retention time, efficiency, and optimum velocity with the tubing diameter (via column outlet pressure). Fourier analysis at different back-pressure regulator (BPR) settings shows that some instruments have very specific noise frequencies originating from the BPR, and those specific frequencies vanish under certain conditions. The performance of embedded digital filters, namely, moving average, numerically simulated low pass RC, and Gaussian kernels, is compared. This work also demonstrates, using a simple derivative test, that some instruments employ interpolation techniques while sampling at "true" low frequencies to avoid picking up high frequency noise. Researchers engaged in ultrafast chromatography need to be aware of the instrumental nuances and optimization procedures for achieving ultrafast chiral or achiral separations in SFC mode.

Salient Sub-Second Separations.

Sub-second liquid chromatography in very short packed beds is demonstrated as a broad proof of concept for chiral, achiral, and HILIC separations of biologically important molecules. Superficially porous particles (SPP, 2.7 µm) of different surface chemistries, namely, teicoplanin, cyclofructan, silica, and quinine, were packed in 0.5-cm-long columns for separating different classes of compounds. Several issues must be addressed to obtain the maximum performance of 0.5 cm columns with reduced plate heights of 2.6 to 3.0. Modified UHPLC hardware can be used to obtain sub-second separations provided extra-column dispersion is minimized and sufficient data acquisition rates are used. Further, hardware improvements will be needed to take full advantage of faster separations. The utility of power transform, which is already employed in certain chromatography detectors, is shown to be advantageous for sub-second chromatography. This approach could prove to be beneficial in fast screening and two-dimensional liquid chromatography.

Ultrafast separation of fluorinated and desfluorinated pharmaceuticals using highly efficient and selective chiral selectors bonded to superficially porous particles.

The separation of fluorinated active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from their desfluoro analogs is a challenging analytical task due to their structural similarity. In this work, fluorine containing APIs and their corresponding desfluorinated impurities were separated on five new 2.7µm superficially porous particles (SPPs) functionalized with bonded chiral selectors. The unique shape selectivity of bonded macrocyclic glycopeptides and oligosaccharides was utilized to separate seven pairs of fluoro/desfluoro APIs resulting in some unprecedented selectivity values. For example, SPP bonded isopropyl cyclofructan 6 yielded a selectivity of 2.73 for voriconazole and desfluoro voriconazole. Further, the SPP based columns allowed for rapid separations ranging from 9 to 55s with very high efficiencies ranging from 45,000 to 70,000plates/m (at high flow rates) in both reversed phase and polar organic modes. Chromatographic separation and detection by HPLC-ESI-MS was demonstrated using ezetimibe and voriconazole and their desfluorinated impurities. Among the tested phases, SPP hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin separated the most fluorinated and desfluorinated analogs with baseline resolution.

High efficiency, narrow particle size distribution, sub-2 µm based macrocyclic glycopeptide chiral stationary phases in HPLC and SFC.

State of the art chiral chromatography still employs 3-5 µm bonded or immobilized chiral selectors in 10-25 cm columns. With the availability of 1.9 µm narrow particle size distribution (NPSD) silica, it is now possible to make ever shorter, high efficiency columns practical for sub-minute chiral separations. Three macrocyclic glycopeptides (teicoplanin, teicoplanin aglycone, and vancomycin) were bonded onto 1.9 µm NPSD particles. Such packed columns had ∼80% lower backpressure as compared to polydisperse (PD) 1.7 µm silica materials when using the same mobile phase. The decreased backpressure allowed for diminution of frictional heating and allowed for the use of the 1.9 µm NPSD particle based columns at high flow rates. The 1.9 µm NPSD particle based columns showed up to 190,000 plates m(-1) for chiral molecules and 210,000 plates m(-1) for achiral probes. Representative enantiomeric separations are shown for wide classes of compounds, including different types of amino acids, ß-blockers, and pharmaceutically important heterocyclic compounds such as oxazolidinones. Applications in three liquid chromatography modes, namely, reversed phase, polar organic mode and normal phase chiral separations were shown with resolution values ranging from 1.5 to 5.7. Additionally, the same columns were used with supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) for ultrafast separations.

Gone in seconds: praxis, performance, and peculiarities of ultrafast chiral liquid chromatography with superficially porous particles.

A variety of brush-type chiral stationary phases (CSPs) were developed using superficially porous particles (SPPs). Given their high efficiencies and relatively low back pressures, columns containing these particles were particularly advantageous for ultrafast "chiral" separations in the 4-40 s range. Further, they were used in all mobile phase modes and with high flow rates and pressures to separate over 60 pairs of enantiomers. When operating under these conditions, both instrumentation and column packing must be modified or optimized so as not to limit separation performance and quality. Further, frictional heating results in axial thermal gradients of up to 16 °C and radial temperature gradients up to 8 °C, which can produce interesting secondary effects in enantiomeric separations. It is shown that the kinetic behavior of various CSPs can differ from one another as much as they differ from the well-studied C18 reversed phase media. Three additional interesting aspects of this work are (a) the first kinetic evidence of two different chiral recognition mechanisms, (b) a demonstration of increased efficiencies at higher flow rates for specific separations, and