ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable

ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable—Catalyzing green chemistry & engineering in the global pharmaceutical industry.

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Influencing the Research Agenda

The ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable has identified key synthetic chemistry and process research challenges whose solutions would result in more efficient pharmaceutical process development and production.  To spur research in these areas, the Roundtable created and maintains a research grant program, whose impact over the years has been recently documented. The Roundtable also advocates for targeted green chemistry and engineering support to academic and government labs from international and U.S. federal funding agencies.

2022 RFPs are Now Open: Apply by May 15

Grant Strategy

In 2007, the Roundtable published a seminal paper outlining the most relevant and promising green chemistry research areas within the pharmaceutical industry. The paper provides industry insight for academic researchers interested in pharmaceutical research and has been widely cited.

An update to this paper was published in 2018:

Key Green Chemistry research areas from a pharmaceutical manufacturers’ perspective revisited. Marian C. Bryan, Peter J. Dunn, David Entwistle, Fabrice Gallou, Stefan G. Koenig, John D. Hayler, Matthew R. Hickey, Shaun Hughes, Michael E. Kopach, Gerard Moine, Paul Richardson, Frank Roschangar, Alan Steven and Franz J. Weiberth. Green Chem., 2018, 20, 5082.
DOI: 10.1039/C8GC01276H

Grant Research

Over $2 million dollars (US) have been funded by the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable since their grant program began in 2007.  Each Spring, new Request for Proposals (RFPs) are issued for different key research challenges faced by the Pharmaceutical industry.

Evaluating the Impact of a Decade of Funding from the Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable
Stefan G. Koenig, David K. Leahy, and Andrew S. Wells
Org. Process Res. Dev., 2018, 22 (10), 1344-1359.

Awarded Grants

  • 2020

    Tristan Lambert & Phillip Milner, Cornell University, $50,000
    “Bioinspired Metal-Organic Frameworks as Heterogeneous Catalysts for Peptide Synthesis”

    Kamalesh K. Sirkar, New Jersey Institute of Technology, $50,000
    “Develop membranes for pressure-driven separation of solutes and solvents in the 50-600 Da range from API synthesis mixtures”

    Pasi Virta, University of Turku, $50,000
    “Improved synthesis of nucleotide blockmers using a precipitative soluble”

    Daniel J. Weix, University of Wisconsin-Madison, $50,000
    “Metal-Mediated Electrochemistry: A new frontier for surfactants”

    Martin Andersson, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), $25,000
    “Developing New Surfactants for Easy Separation”

    Soumitra Athavale & Frances H. Arnold, California Institute of Technology, $25,000
    “Biocatalytic C-H bond Functionalization for the Synthesis of Enantioenriched Amines and Amides”

    Matthew A. Hostetler, Marshall University, $25,000
    “Cups: An Atom efficient and low-waste producing method of inverse solid-phase peptide synthesis”

    Tehshik P. Yoon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, $25,000
    “Oxidative C–N Cross-Coupling Enabled by Iron Photochemistry”

  • 2019

    Ryan Shenvi, Scripps Research, $50,000
    "C–N Attached-Ring Synthesis by Markovnikov Hydroamination"

    Susan Olesik, The Ohio State University, $46,996
    "A Study of the Environmental Impact of Analytical and Preparative Scale Supercritical Fluid Chromatographic Processes"

    Fernando Albericio and Beatriz G. de la Torre, University of KwaZulu-Natal, $25,000
    “Baroc, a Green α-Amino Protecting Group for Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis”

    Mark Mason, The University of Toledo, $25,000
    “Iron-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Heterocycles”

    Aaron Vannucci, University of South Carolina, $25,000
    “A New Approach to Catalyst Immobilization Research: Designing Molecular Catalysts for Heterogeneous Catalysis”

    Arnaud Voituriez, Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, $25,000
    “Towards an Electro-Catalytic Wittig Reaction”

  • 2018

    Song Lin, Cornell University, $25,000
    “Electrocatalytic Fluorination Reactions Using Sustainable Fluorine Sources”

    Benjamin Wiley & Jennifer Roizen, Duke University, $25,000
    “C-H/C-H Cross-Coupling of Aromatic Compounds with Flow-Through Nanowire Electrode”

    Jennifer L. Stockdill, Wayne State University, $50,000
    “Catalytic Desulfurization of Peptides”

  • 2017

    Corey Stephenson, University of Michigan, $50,000
    “A Microfluidic Platform for Discovery and Optimization of Photoredox Reactions”

    Jennifer L. Stockdill, Wayne State University, $50,000
    “A Green Strategy for the Synthesis of Head-to-Tail Macrocyclic Peptides”

    James Kiddle, Western Michigan University, $25,000
    “The Wittig Reaction Metamorphosis from Phosphorus to Boron”

    Stephen G. Newman, University of Ottawa, $25,000
    “Using Flow Chemistry to Harness Ozone as a Sustainable Oxidant for C–H Functionalization”

    Andrew Texeira, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, $25,000
    “Enhanced Site-Accessibility for Solid-Phase Coupling in Hierarchical Materials”

  • 2016

    Dennis Hall, University of Alberta, $25,000
    “Borate-Based Catalytic Directing Groups for Alkene and C–H Functionalization Reactions Using Readily Available Alcohol Substrates”

    Oana Luca, University of Colorado – Boulder, $25,000
    “Catalyst and Electrolyte-Free Direct Electrochemical Cross Coupling”

    Jeff Byers, Boston College, $25,000
    “Development of an Iron-Based Catalyst for Suzuki-Miyaura Cross Coupling Reactions”

    Zach Amara, National Des Arvts Et Métiers, $25,000
    “Smart Synthesis with Magnetically Recoverable Visible Light Photocatalysts”

    Leo Choe Peng, Universiti Sains Malaysia, $16,000
    “Diafiltration of Monoclonal Antibody using pH Responsive Membrane with Positive Charge.

    Andrew Zydney, Penn State, $50,000
    “Countercurrent Staged Diafiltration for Monoclonal Antibody Formulation.”

    Amanda Evans, California State University, Fullerton, $50,000
    “Enz-Flow/Continuous Bioprocessing: Towards a green continuous flow synthesis of levomilnacipran”

  • 2015 & Prior

    2015

    2014

    • Green Chemistry Articles of Interest to the Pharmaceutical Industry Rakeshwar Bandichhor, Apurba Bhattacharya, Louis Diorazio, Peter Dunn, Kenneth Fraunhoffer, Fabrice Gallou, John Hayler, Matthew Hickey, Bill Hinkley, Luke Humphreys, Bernard Kaptein, Suju Mathew, Paul Richardson, Timothy White, Stijn Wuyts, Jingjun Yin. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18 (12), 1602-1613. DOI: 10.1021/op500345y
    • Green Chemistry Articles of Interest to the Pharmaceutical Industry Rakeshwar Bandichhor, Apurba Bhattacharya, Louis Diorazio, Peter Dunn, Kenneth Fraunhoffer, Fabrice Gallou, John Hayler, Matthew Hickey, Bill Hinkley, David Hughes, Luke Humphreys, Bernard Kaptein, Suju Mathew, Lynnette Oh, Paul Richardson, Timothy White, Stijn Wuyts. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18 (7), 863-874. DOI: 10.1021/op500167y
    • Sustainable Chromatography (an oxymoron?) Emily A. Peterson, Barry Dillon, Izzat T. Rah

    2013

    2012

    2011

    2010

    • Green Chemistry Articles of Interest to the Pharmaceutical Industry Ian Andrews, Jian Cui, Leo Dudin, Peter Dunn, John Hayler, Bill Hinkley, David Hughes, Bernard Kaptein, Kurt Lorenz, Suju Mathew, Thomas Rammeloo, Lijun Wang, Andrew Wells, Timothy Donald White. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2010, 14 (4), 770–780. DOI: 0.1021/op100116s
    • Green Chemistry Articles of Interest to the Pharmaceutical Industry Ian Andrews, Jian Cui, Jimmy DaSilva, Leo Dudin, Peter Dunn, John Hayler, Bill Hinkley, David Hughes, Bernard Kaptein, Kurt Lorenz, Suju Mathew, Thomas Rammeloo, Lijun Wang, Andrew Wells, Timothy White, Fuyao Zhang. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2010,14 (1), 19–29. DOI: 10.1021/op900295s

    2009

    • Green Chemistry Articles of Interest to the Pharmaceutical Industry Ian Andrews, Jian Cui, Jimmy DaSilva, Leo Dudin, Peter Dunn, John Hayler, Bill Hinkley, David Hughes, Bernard Kaptein, Stanley Kolis, Kurt Lorenz, Suju Mathew, Thomas Rammeloo, Lijun Wang, Andrew Wells, Timothy White, Chaoyu Xie, Fuyao Zhang. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2009, 13 (3), 397–408. DOI: 10.1021/op900082k

    2008

    2007

Request for Proposals are Closed

The 2020 RFPs below are closed and will be awarded this summer.

Influencing Funding Agencies

The Roundtable is looking into how we can promoting green chemistry and engineering in funding programs. Contact David Leahy, Takeda if you are interested.