Development of GSK's reagent guides – embedding sustainability into reagent selection

Abstract

Reagent guides ranking commonly used reagents for 15 transformations have been developed to reduce the environmental impact of drug discovery and development. Reagents have been scored by a combination of health, safety and environmental risk phrases, life cycle analysis (where possible) and an assessment of the chemistry including considerations of atom efficiency, stoichiometry, work-up and other issues. Guides covering alkene reduction, amide formation, C–H bromination, C–H chlorination, deoxychlorination, epoxidation, ester formation, ether formation, fluorination, iodination, ketone reduction, nitro reduction, oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones, reductive amination and sulfur oxidation are shared, with an explanation of the methodology behind their generation.