Whatever your industry, we’ve got you covered for your purification needs. From drug development to food products, I extracted some highlights of our most recent blog articles on relevant industrial processes that have to do with achieving your purity goals.

How to Streamline Metal Scavenger Scale-Up During Drug Development

“While using catalysts has its benefits, the downside of the technique is the introduction of metals, most of which are toxic and must be removed. Not surprisingly, this has led to a significant increase in the need for scavenging processes.”

“For the drug industry, scalability is never simple – and it can cause nightmares. Whether it’s due to process efficiency and cost, or broader Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) concerns, scalability can make even the most seasoned scientist sweat.”

“There are three key steps involved in scaling up: scavenger selection, scavenger optimization and process transfer across scales.”

“When it comes to metal removal in drug development, process chemists can rest easy: scale-up with silica is generally much more straightforward than with other metal recovery options. Silica-based metal scavengers are a powerful, selective and cost-effective tool. providing incredible versatility with different solvents and pH. In addition, they are compatible with batch flow operations and microwave use.”

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How to Use Metal Scavengers to Eliminate Metal Contamination in Drugs

“What makes metal scavengers so easy to use is their heterogeneous nature. When used in bulk in a contaminated solution, all you need to do is filter off the scavenger with the bound metal and dispose of them.

When used in SPE or flash cartridges for batch reactions, the filtration process – with adapted experimental conditions – will leave the contaminant metal in the cartridge, rendering the solution metal-free.

The latest technology in scavengers is the E-PAK cartridge. It provides the same benefits as the SPE or flash, but for fixed bed/continuous reactions. E-PAK also features linear scalability - from the lab to commercial manufacturing processes.”

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Simplifying Metal Catalyst Removal in Drug Development Applications

“We worked with a mid-sized pharma company on an API R&D project (Two-Steps Purification with E-PAK® Cartridges Following a Direct Pd-Catalyzed Borylation). During the project, we evaluated replacing an existing – and complex – 5-step filtration process to reduce palladium (Pd) levels to lower than 20 ppm.”

“When it comes to metal scavenging, however, E-PAK removes the scale-up uncertainties alongside the metal contaminants. E-PAK scale-up is straightforward – from the lab bench to pilot scales, through to bulk commercial runs of several hundred kilograms – and has excellent linearity.”

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Pharmaceutical Industry

With numerous case studies (including this one below) proving how useful functionalized silicas are in drug development, the question needs not be asked. But drug development is not the only industry that benefits from functionalized silica.

 

Functionalized Silicas Across Industries

Environmental and agrochemical processes as well as in the radiology, electronics, and cosmetics industries, and even space chemistry; they all have published results using metal and organic Scavengers. Take a look at some case studies below.

 

Trending Now: The Cannabis Industry

If you have not heard of that one, you may have been self-isolating for too long. One of our recent articles discussed the importance of purity in the cannabis industry.

What You Need To Know About Cannabis Industry Testing and Analysis

“The purity of the CBD extract will dictate its use in different applications as well as its value.”

“While analytical determination of contaminants and potency is a critical aspect of cannabis separation science, so – too – is the removal of solvents and heavy metals in the production setting.”

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Still Trending: Green Chemistry

You are not ready to stop hearing about this. Whatever the industry you are working in, the real trend is to green processes which we talked about in another blog article. Reducing waste at the source and catalysis, two of the principles of green chemistry, are central to what functionalized silicas have to offer.

Green Chemistry: Reduce Your Solvent Consumption and Waste Generation During Separation

“The use of functionalized silica can help you facilitate the use of green principles. Among its advantages, it offers:

  • Low toxicity. Silica is nontoxic and nonhazardous.
  • Versatility. Functionalized silica can be used in numerous different types of reactions.
  • Low energy requirements. The silica does not require an overall increase in energy expenditure.”

 

> READ ARTICLE

 

Wherever you are, whoever you work for, SiliCycle has got your back to always achieve the best purity, the purity that your specific industry needs.

 

Eliane, M.Sc

Eliane is the Scientific Content Specialist here at SiliCycle, with years of experience both in the lab and client support. She studied at Laval University, for both her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Chemistry. In fact, her thesis was in organic electronics in which purity is of the utmost essence, making her in-tune to the purification needs of chemists.