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In a patent published on March 26, (U.S. Patent No. 6,362,375),
researchers from the chemistry department describe a clean
alternative for many applications of the Friedel-Crafts Reaction,
used to manufacture important products such as the pharmaceutical
ibuprofen.
The Friedel-Crafts Reaction is an important chemical process
that has changed little since Victorian times, making it
one of the "dirtiest" processes used by today's
chemical industry. The two-step process uses large amounts
of highly acidic reagents. Large quantities of waste are
produced from the first step as acidic vapors, and from the
second step as an acidic solution that is difficult to discard.
The new process, created by a Holy Cross chemistry professor
with assistance from a student, uses a modern catalyst that
is stable to water, making the process highly efficient by
allowing the two steps to be combined into just one.
The principal inventor is Martin A. Walker, a former Holy
Cross chemistry professor (now at SUNY-Potsdam, N.Y.). He
was assisted by Patrick Birmingham '99 (now at Loyola
University Medical School in Illinois) as part of the College's
undergraduate research program. Walker is developing specific
applications of the process to make ibuprofen and Valium ™ (Roche
Laboratories). The work has already attracted interest from
both industry and academia, and Walker is hopeful the process
will be used widely by the chemical industry. |
