Richard J. Ingham

Organic Synthesis: March of the Machines

Organic synthesis is changing; in a world where budgets are constrained and the environmental impacts of practice are scrutinized, it is increasingly recognized that the efficient use of human resource is just as important as material use. New technologies and machines have found use as methods for transforming the way we work, addressing these issues encountered in research laboratories by enabling chemists to adopt a more holistic systems approach in their work. Modern developments in this area promote a multi-disciplinary approach and work is more efficient as a result. This Review focuses on the concepts, procedures and methods that have far-reaching implications in the chemistry world. Technologies have been grouped as topics of opportunity and their recent applications in innovative research laboratories are described.

Machine‐Assisted Organic Synthesis

Abstract In this Review we describe how the advent of machines is impacting on organic synthesis programs, with particular emphasis on the practical issues associated with the design of chemical reactors. In the rapidly changing, multivariant environment of the research laboratory, equipment needs to be modular to accommodate high and low temperatures and pressures, enzymes, multiphase systems, slurries, gases, and organometallic compounds. Additional technologies have been developed to facilitate more specialized reaction techniques such as electrochemical and photochemical methods. All of these areas create both opportunities and challenges during adoption as enabling technologies.

A Systems Approach towards an Intelligent and Self‐Controlling Platform for Integrated Continuous Reaction Sequences

Performing reactions in flow can offer major advantages over batch methods. However, laboratory flow chemistry processes are currently often limited to single steps or short sequences due to the complexity involved with operating a multi-step process. Using new modular components for downstream processing, coupled with control technologies, more advanced multi-step flow sequences can be realized. These tools are applied to the synthesis of 2-aminoadamantane-2-carboxylic acid. A system comprising three chemistry steps and three workup steps was developed, having sufficient autonomy and self-regulation to be managed by a single operator.

A "catch-react-release" method for the flow synthesis of 2-aminopyrimidines and preparation of the Imatinib base.

The development of a monolith-supported synthetic procedure is reported, taking advantage of flow processing and the superior flow characteristics of monolithic reagents over gel-phase beads, to allow facile access to an important family of 2-aminopyrimidine derivatives. The process has been successfully applied to a key precursor on route to Imatinib (Ar = 3-pyridyl, R(1) = 2-methyl-5-nitrobenzyl, R(2) = H).

Camera-enabled techniques for organic synthesis

Summary A great deal of time is spent within synthetic chemistry laboratories on non-value-adding activities such as sample preparation and work-up operations, and labour intensive activities such as extended periods of continued data collection. Using digital cameras connected to computer vision algorithms, camera-enabled apparatus can perform some of these processes in an automated fashion, allowing skilled chemists to spend their time more productively. In this review we describe recent advances in this field of chemical synthesis and discuss how they will lead to advanced synthesis laboratories of the future.

Integration of enabling methods for the automated flow preparation of piperazine-2-carboxamide

Summary Here we describe the use of a new open-source software package and a Raspberry Pi® computer for the simultaneous control of multiple flow chemistry devices and its application to a machine-assisted, multi-step flow preparation of pyrazine-2-carboxamide – a component of Rifater®, used in the treatment of tuberculosis – and its reduced derivative piperazine-2-carboxamide.

Machine-assisted synthesis of modulators of the histone reader BRD9 using flow methods of chemistry and frontal affinity chromatography

A combination of conventional organic synthesis, remotely monitored flow synthesis and bioassay platforms, were used for the evaluation of novel inhibitors targeting bromodomains outside the well-studied bromodomain and extra terminal (BET) family, here exemplified by activity measurements on the bromodomain of BRD9 protein, a component of some tissue-specific SWi/SNF chromatin remodelling complexes. The Frontal Affinity Chromatography combined with Mass Spectrometry (FAC-MS) method proved to be reliable and results correlated well with an independent thermal shift assay.

Promiscuous targeting of bromodomains by bromosporine identifies BET proteins as master regulators of primary transcription response in leukemia

BET bromodomains are unique targeting modules that mediate primary transcription response. Bromodomains (BRDs) have emerged as compelling targets for cancer therapy. The development of selective and potent BET (bromo and extra-terminal) inhibitors and their significant activity in diverse tumor models have rapidly translated into clinical studies and have motivated drug development efforts targeting non-BET BRDs. However, the complex multidomain/subunit architecture of BRD protein complexes complicates predictions of the consequences of their pharmacological targeting. To address this issue, we developed a promiscuous BRD inhibitor [bromosporine (BSP)] that broadly targets BRDs (including BETs) with nanomolar affinity, creating a tool for the identification of cellular processes and diseases where BRDs have a regulatory function. As a proof of principle, we studied the effects of BSP on leukemic cell lines known to be sensitive to BET inhibition and found, as expected, strong antiproliferative activity. Comparison of the modulation of transcriptional profiles by BSP after a short exposure to the inhibitor resulted in a BET inhibitor signature but no significant additional changes in transcription that could account for inhibition of other BRDs. Thus, nonselective targeting of BRDs identified BETs, but not other BRDs, as master regulators of context-dependent primary transcription response.