MAINZ, BREMEN – Germany, CALGARY, Canada / ACCESSWIRE / August 12, 2014 / Fraunhofer ICT-IMM will coordinate a transatlantic research collaboration with Nanalysis Corp and Hansa Fine Chemicals to develop a system for the continuous-flow synthesis of fluorine- and phosphor-containing fine chemicals with an integrated online NMR analysis.
Fluorine- and phosphor-containing fine chemicals are essential building blocks for pharmaceutical and agrochemical compounds. Many of today’s Life Science products contain fluorinated groups that enhance the biological activity of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Many insecticides are based upon organophosphates and the desired toxicity of these agrochemicals justifies a high level on safety for the chemical synthesis and analysis. Chemical production in small reactor volumes in combination with a non-contact analytical method like NMR spectroscopy allows safe handling and reduced exposure of organophosphates to lab workers.
The international project is funded by the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (AIF/ZIM) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) in Germany and by the International Technology Partnership program of the Alberta Ministry of Innovation and Advanced Education delivered by the German-Canadian Centre for Innovation and Research (GCCIR) in Alberta, Canada. Overall project funding is approx. 430.000 €.
A powerful tool for chemical industry
"This is an exciting project. Working with experienced and knowledgeable partners, will enable us to adapt our NMReadyTM technology to the field of continuous flow reactor chemistry and in a larger sense to flow enabled online NMR in many new applications.", said Bruce Lix, Director of Business Development for Nanalysis Corp.
The continuous flow synthesis of fine chemicals in microreactors in combination with NMR-based online analytics creates a powerful tool to the chemical industry producing fluorine- and phosphor-containing compounds.
For Jan Barten, Managing Director at HFC, this means "The development of continuous flow reactors with intelligent analysis by NMR will greatly reduce our production time and enable us to engage in more chemical synthesis research. In the end we see this project as a potential cost savings and business building opportunity that will enable us to expand our reach to new customers".
Patrick Löb, Head of Department Continuous Chemical Engineering at Fraunhofer ICT-IMM added "This international project allows us to demonstrate the groundbreaking combination of continuous-flow chemical synthesis with online NMR analysis. Nanalysis’ NMReadyTM is a highly functional NMR spectrometer on smallest size scale being therefore an excellent complement to our microreactor technology. The chemical reactions selected together with Hansa Fine Chemicals will prove industrial relevance and benefit to fine chemicals industry."
About the project partners
Nanalysis Corporation is a leading producer of benchtop NMR spectroscopy products. The Canadian company designs and builds compact NMR spectrometers for research, training and QA/QC applications. The flagship product NMReadyTM all-in-one NMR spectrometer will be the analytical platform for this project. For more information regarding Nanalysis Corp, please contact Sean Krakiwsky, +1 403 769 9499, or email [email protected].
Fraunhofer ICT-IMM researches and develops within the key competences Decentralized and Mobile Energy Technology, Continuous Chemical Process Engineering (Flow Chemistry), Microfluidic Analysis Systems, Medical Sensors and Technical Sensor Systems and Nanoparticle Technologies. ICT-IMM will develop a flow cell that is adapted to and integrated into Nanalysis’ NMR spectrometer. They will use their expertise to design a continuous-flow bench scale plant applied for the synthesis of fluorine- and phosphor-containing fine chemicals in conjunction with integrated NMR online monitoring.
For more information regarding FraunhoferICT-IMM please contact Dr. Stefan Kiesewalter |Fraunhofer ICT-IMM, Carl-Zeiss-Straße 18-20, 55129 Mainz Germany Telephone +49 6131 990-323, email: [email protected] www.imm.fraunhofer.de
Hansa Fine Chemicals GmbH is specialized on the synthesis of fluorine- and phosphor-containing fine chemicals. They are a major supplier to the life science and agrochemical manufacturing businesses in Europe and abroad. They will use the continuous-flow lab plant with integrated online NMR analytics for a detailed evaluation of its performance compared to batch synthesis and offline NMR analysis. For more information regarding Hansa Fine Chemicals please contact Dr Jan Barton, +49 42121 89200, email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.imm.fraunhofer.de/en/press_publications/press/nmr-analysis.html
SOURCE: Nanalysis Corp