Solvents and stabilisers for supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction of key pharmaceuticals

Details

Supervisors

Luis Alconero, Patricia

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil en chimie et science des matériaux, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

Chiral amines are essential building blocks for the pharmaceutical industry. They can be synthesised either chemically or biochemically, of which the latter is preferred as the chemical route requires the use of heavy metal-based catalysts. The biochemical route involves the use of transaminase enzymes, leading to a theoretical yield of 100 %. However, this yield is only reached by employing in-situ product removal. The use of supported liquid membranes (SLMs) enables simultaneous extraction and stripping of the target amines. The lack of stability of the solvent immobilised in the membrane pores is the main challenge for the industrial deployment of this process. This work looks at less toxic alternatives to the benchmark organic solvent, undecane. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs), natural oils, and an ionic liquid (IL) were impregnated into the pores of different support materials for the extraction of α-methylbenzylamine (MBA) and 1-methyl-3-phenylpropylamine (MPPA). Stabilisers based on nanoparticles or a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating were used to improve the membrane stability. The DES trioctylphosphine oxide:thymol (TOPO:thymol), the IL trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide ([P6,6,6,14][N(Tf)2]), and the PDMS coating combined with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane, achieved selective amine extraction comparable to the reference undecane. Stability for 48 hours was also demonstrated with the IL and PDMS coating.