Crystals of single chirality via non-equilibrium routes

Project Information

CHIRAL

Grant agreement ID: 101044764

DOI

10.3030/101044764

EC signature date 23 June 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 August 2027

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 415 625,00

EU contribution

€ 2 415 625,00

Coordinated by

STICHTING NEDERLANDSE WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK INSTITUTEN
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CHIRAL (Crystals of single chirality via non-equilibrium routes)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2025-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The CHIRAL project addresses the critical challenge of producing enantiomerically pure molecules, which are essential building blocks for bioactive compounds such as pharmaceuticals. Despite advancements in the field, synthesizing the desired enantiomer often requires complex and costly processes. The CHIRAL project aims to revolutionize this area by introducing a novel approach that leverages the ability of crystals to self-sort molecules, using crystal growth to preferentially crystallize the desired enantiomer while suppressing the undesired one.

To achieve this, CHIRAL integrates crystallization processes with racemization reactions, where undesired enantiomers can be converted into desired ones during crystallization. Key objectives include identifying crystallization conditions that favor the desired enantiomer and optimizing racemization reactions to complement the crystallization process.


When successful, CHIRAL will provide groundbreaking insights into fundamental crystallization processes, offering practical and scalable methods for producing enantiomerically pure building blocks. These advancements are expected to significantly reduce costs and complexity in the production of pharmaceuticals and other bioactive compounds, enhancing their accessibility and impact on daily life.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

CHIRAL’s main achievement so far have been the following:
1. Extensive screening study of crystal stabilities shows that the potential of exploiting crystallization processes is very promising. In addition, the first successful isolations of enantiomerically pure molecules have been achieved.
2. Electrochemical racemization has been developed to induce the successful deracemization of two classes of chiral molecules. The key idea is that an racemization catalysts is generated electrochemically, which in turn interconverts the two enantiomers into each other to drive deracemization towards a desired enantiomer.

current work is focussed on analysing the growth and dissolution rates of crystals to rationally exploit these processes for the deracemization towards the desired enantiomer.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Both the electrochemically-induced deracemization and analysis of stabilities of chiral crystals go beyond the current state of the art. On both topics manuscripts have been submitted to peer reviewed journals