Application of micro reactor technology in the synthesis of a Lobeglitazone derivative

• Grant number: 20/04788-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2020
• End date: April 21, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Technology
• Principal Investigator: Mauri Sergio Alves Palma
• Grantee: Thayana Teixeira de Mattos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus affects more than 400 million people around the world with the prospect of increasing the number of carriers: more than 640 million in 2040. The disease is characterized mainly by excessive blood glucose, due to irregular and insufficient secretion of insulin, and among the drugs used in its treatment stands out Lobeglitazone, a compound of the class of glitazones that works as an insulin sensitizer in humans. A technological advance in the Lobeglitazone synthesis, currently in a batch process, uses micro reactors operating in continuous flow. Micro reactors operating in continuous flow have been used as an alternative to batch reactors due to their advantages, such as the excellent heat exchange control, due to the high surface/volume ratio, more efficient homogenization, due to the small distances for diffusion, leading to an increase in the speed of the chemical reaction, reactant conversion, product yield, selectivity and safety when working with toxic reagents and products, reducing the generation of residues and increasing the purity of the product. This research project aims to carry out 4 final steps, of the 5 requested for the process to obtain a new Lobeglitazone derivative, for which it will be replaced the compound (4A) 2-methylaminoethanol, by the compound (4B), ethanolamine.The reactions will be carried out in a batch reactor and in a continuous flow capillary micro reactor, searching for the best operational conditions in the batch process (reaction time, temperature, solvent, catalyst, catalyst concentration and total concentration of the reaction medium). The best operational conditions of the batch process will be transferred to the flow process in the micro reactor, where will be verified the influence of temperature of the solvents, above the normal boiling, and the mean residence time of the flow. With those experiments will be determined the values of that variables that maximize the conversion of the limiting reactant, the yield and the selectivity of the product. This work will be developed within the scope of individual research aid financed by Fapesp no. 2017/12830-9, entitled "Synthesis of Pioglitazone, Rosiglitazone and Lobeglitazone in continuous flow in capillary microreactors" effective from 10/01/2017 to 06/30/2020, and the PhD project financed by Fapesp no. 2018/01478-5 entitled "Synthesis of Pioglitazone in batch and capillary microreactor", in effect from June/2018 to March/2021.