Crystals of single chirality via non-equilibrium routes

Informazioni relative al progetto

CHIRAL

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101044764

DOI

10.3030/101044764

Data della firma CE 23 Giugno 2022

Data di avvio 1 Settembre 2022

Data di completamento 31 Agosto 2027

Finanziato da

• European Research Council (ERC)

Costo totale

€ 2 415 625,00

Contributo UE

€ 2 415 625,00

Coordinato da

STICHTING NEDERLANDSE WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK INSTITUTEN
Netherlands

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

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-09-01 al 2025-02-28

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

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.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

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.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

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