Professor and chemist Dennis Hall talks to ChemNews about a promising new development that was recently licensed by GreenCentre Canada. GreenCentre is an organization that partners government and industry to transform green research into commercially viable solutions. Because the organization accepts only 10% of proposed ideas, Hall's research is significant. His development of a chemical process uses a green catalyst that could potentially change the way pharmaceuticals are produced. Instead of the toxic solvents and high temperatures commonly used in the production of pharmaceuticals, Hall's green catalyst could make production more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Firstly, how long have you worked on this process?
We have been working on developing and optimizing amidation catalysts for close to 5 years. The project benefited a lot from an NSERC I2I grant (Idea-to-Innovation) in the early stages.
Were you surprised to know that GreenCentre bought it?
Not so much because their mandate is to help commercialize green technologies developed by Canadian researchers. I am happy they were interested. It took a lot of time and effort to negotiate a license. Darrell Petras and Vicki Lui from TecEdmonton spent a lot of time on this file to insure we would obtain an agreement that was fair to all parties involved. I am very grateful to them. They took care of all the legal aspects so I could focus on my research.
For those of us who don't know, how does this work going forward, now that GreenCentre has the license? Do they pay the UofA? In perpetuity? Royalties?
The agreement involves royalties to be paid on future successful commercialization of this technology. The GreenCentre acts as an intermediate. They are now working with us to further improve the technology and develop specific applications to make it attractive to potential industrial clients. They also participate financially and strategically in intellectual protection.
Can you tell me about the work that led to the development of the process?
The project was started in the lab by a former PhD student, Raed Al-Zoubi, who is now an assistant professor in Jordan. It was just another curiosity-driven project that I proposed to Raed one day. Raed took the challenge and it quickly gave promising and surprising results. We were interested in the applications of boronic acids in catalysis, and direct amide bond formation between carboxylic acids and amines was deemed to be a challenging but very important process to develop in the pharmaceutical industry.
How does the process itself work?
Existing methods for direct amide bond formation between carboxylic acids and amines necessitate large amounts of coupling reagents that are often toxic and expensive, and they generate a lot of waste. Our method uses a small amount of boronic acid (the catalyst) and it generates only water as the by-product. Most of the time, no further product purification is necessary. Those attributes make it a greener method for producing amides.
What does it mean to you personally and to your department to have GreenCentre pick it up?
For me, in the short time, it is rewarding to have the opportunity to develop real-life applications of our research. Like many academic chemists, I do a lot of fundamental work and we rarely have a chance to apply our discoveries. For our Department, I truly hope this will lead to more interest and involvement in the growing field of Green Chemistry. There is enormous potential for collaboration and funding in this field of research, and the public perception of Green Chemistry is very good.
How did you celebrate?
I'm sorry to say we didn't celebrate. Maybe we should, but sometimes I feel too busy to celebrate and I just want to move on to the next thing. Honestly, this is just the start. I feel like the time to celebrate will come when we succeed with a commercial application. Many scientists feel the same. If you stop and rest on your laurels, you will miss out on the next thing.
What happens now? Are you currently working on your next discovery?
Yes! This project has lots of interesting branches: further catalyst improvements, mechanistic studies, etc. I need more excellent students and postdocs to help advance this chemistry.
Five things you can't live without?
My family would count for four (my wife and three daughters), and my boronic acids!
Congratulations, Dr. Hall on your success! For more information, see the newly-released 2nd edition of "Boronic Acids" that Hall edits. It features one of Hall's group's top catalysts on the cover page.