27th SCI Process Development Symposium
The 27th Process Development Symposium organised by the Fine Chemicals Group was held at Churchill College Cambridge from 9th – 11th December 2009.
An audience of over 180 was treated to eighteen lectures over 3 days. Delegates came from across Europe, Asia and North America, invited speakers from Europe and North America and there was a strong presence from exhibitors as well.
This year’s conference was particularly noted for its variety, there was a strong supporting line up of speakers who gave case studies from across the industry or described recent advances in technology. Notable contributions came from, Dr. Rodney Parsons(Bristol-Myers Squibb, USA) in his case study on the process development of Dapagliflozin, a SGLT2 inhibitor candidate for diabetes treatment and Dr. Neil Barnwell (AstraZeneca, UK) who presented on a MMP inhibitor candidate with the potential to treat COPD. Dr. Mark Ford (Bayer CropScience, Germany) gave an interesting and thought provoking perspective on the cost challenges faced by agrochemical producers. Microwave assisted organic synthesis has been embraced by many discovery departments, Dr. Jayne Muir (Cambrex, Sweden), showed how microwaves could be successfully used upon scale in a continuous flow context.
Professor Varinder Aggarwal from The University of Bristol was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Pfizer Prize for Process Chemistry Research for 2009 and gave a lecture highlighting his recent contributions to sulfonium salts and chiral carbeniods as applied to asymmetric synthesis. Academia was further represented by Professor Benjamin List of the Max-Planck Institute in Germany who discussed the use of organo-catalysts for asymmetric synthesis, with particular emphasis on asymmetric counterion directed catalysis.
To encourage future generations of Process Chemists, 14 PhD students and one academic lecturer, mostly from UK institutions received bursaries to attend and all found the experience to be interesting and enjoyable.
After a very successful meeting which really emphasised the strength of the process development discipline, the organisers and delegates can look forward with anticipation to the 28th renewal, which will be held once again at Churchill College Cambridge from 8th-10th December 2010.
Dr John Carey, GlaxoSmith Kline and SCI Fine Chemicals Group.
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