Flash Chemistry Approach to Organometallic C-Glycosylation for the Synthesis of Remdesivir

In a rapidly changing environment, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, continuous flow reactors bear the potential to increase the production of urgently needed active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) on demand. In the synthesis of remdesivir, the organometallic C-glycosylation step was identified as a limitation for the large-scale production, requiring long addition periods and cryogenic temperatures. Previous studies have focused on a Grignard-based protocol, but a flash chemistry approach, using organolithium reagents, has facilitated significant improvements. After gaining further understanding of the C-glycosylation, this step was successfully transferred to a five-stream continuous flow process, achieving 60% yield at a moderate temperature (-30 degrees C) in a total residence time of just 8 s. Stable processing was demonstrated for 2 h, providing an exceptionally high space-time yield of 10.4 kg L-1 h(-1), in a scalable flow reactor system.

Automated summary

In a rapidly changing environment like the current COVID-19 pandemic, continuous flow reactors show potential for increasing the production of urgently needed active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) on demand. A flash chemistry approach using organolithium reagents has led to significant improvements in the synthesis of remdesivir, particularly in the C-glycosylation step, allowing for higher yield and faster production in a continuous flow system.