Chemists from the Higher School of Economics and the N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed a new synthesis method for amides, enabling the production of various raw materials for cancer drugs with minimal waste and without the need for complex purification processes. According to the researchers, this innovative approach could reduce production costs by hundreds of times, as reported by the press service of the Higher School of Economics.
Mikhail Losev, a student at the HSE Department of Chemistry and one of the study’s authors, explained, «We tested the method on synthesizing a key component of vorinostat, a drug used to treat T-cell lymphoma. The cost of the drug using this synthesis could fall to less than a dollar per gram, while the current price from main suppliers can reach several hundred dollars per gram».
The new method involves transforming nitroarenes—aromatic organic molecules containing a nitric acid residue—into organic molecules with amide groups, a crucial raw material for most drugs, using a catalyst based on ruthenium and carbon monoxide.
Traditionally, amides are synthesized in multiple steps: nitroarenes are converted into anilines, which are then combined with carboxylic acids that require activation through chlorohydrides or carbodiimides before final amide formation. The researchers, however, have established a one-step process that requires a record low catalyst consumption—around two dozen catalyst molecules per million reagent molecules.
Denis Chusov, a professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, noted that in traditional amide synthesis, new reagents must be added at each stage, complicating the cleaning process and generating waste. The Russian team’s approach effectively avoids these complications without the need for additional substances or by-products, with the final product sometimes requiring no further purification.
The researchers express optimism that this new method will expedite and reduce costs for vorinostat production and other drugs that depend on organic molecules with amide groups, predicting potential cost reductions of hundreds of times for producing such substances in the future.
Earlier it became known that scientists from Saratov National Research State University (SSU) named after N. G. Chernyshevsky have developed a novel method for delivering anti-inflammatory drugs through hair follicles, potentially enhancing treatment efficacy while minimizing side effects.
