New method for synthesising a basic component of modern drugs developed by UNN chemists

Up to 50% of pharmaceuticals contain arylamines, compounds containing nitrogen and aryl groups. The industrial synthesis of arylamines is expensive and energy-consuming since it involves a catalyst made of the rare metal palladium, and the resulting compounds require high-tech purification.

Nizhny Novgorod chemists have proposed a cheaper and more efficient continuous method for the synthesis of arylamines, making it possible to completely phase out the palladium catalyst: nitrogen and aryl groups interact using the energy of an organic photocatalyst. 

The well-known reaction of arylamine production in a flask, which is unsuitable for large-scale chemical production, was transferred to a flow reactor by UNN chemists. Instead of a flask, it takes place in a continuous flow of liquid moving through a system of thin tubes.

"The thinner the tubes, the more efficient the irradiation with light and the more intensively the photocatalyst activates the synthesis of arylamine. In a flask such a reaction takes about a day, but with our method the final substance can be obtained in one hour, which increases the efficiency of synthesis by tens and hundreds of times",  explained the author of the project  Alexander Nyuchev, Head of the UNN Laboratory for Chemistry of Natural Compounds and Their Synthetic Analogues. 

According to the authors of the research, the yield of the product has been increased to 93%, while catalyst consumption per unit of product has been reduced to a quarter of a per cent. 

"The new method will help to achieve savings on components and catalyst, and even to save human resources:  the reaction can be controlled remotely using special sensors and a computer. These advantages make our technology very promising for chemical production," Alexander Nyuchev said.  

The research was carried out in the Research Laboratory for Chemistry of Natural Compounds and Their Synthetic Analogues at the Technoplatform 2035 Research Centre. 

The results were published in the international journal Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2024.