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INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR DR. KLAUS DITRICH
Direct path from lab to production
Chirality is of great importance in nature. Chiral molecules are found in two forms that are like an image and its mirror-image. However, if one variant is dominant or exclusively present, the compound is said to be "optically active." Optically active amines have become major components of active ingredients in the pharmaceutical and agro-industries, and inquiries for new specialty products keep coming in. One of the fathers of this development is Professor Dr. Klaus Ditrich, who has dealt with the production and use of optically active amines for more than twelve years. He answered our questions.
What portfolio of optically active amines does BASF currently offer for its customers?
At present, we have about 60 different optically active amines that are available as standardized products. However, our customers sometimes find these are not the molecules they can use for synthesizing their active ingredients. In such cases we offer to develop a process for manufacturing the tailor-made molecules our customers dream of.
That is where your laboratory comes in. How do you go about this task?
The company that needs a new optically active amine will ask our marketing department whether we can produce this specific amine. Now, our ambition is to answer such an inquiry as swiftly as possible, but certainly within no more than three weeks.
Then, once the basic "OK" has been given, how is the implementation achieved?
"We are instrumental in reducing significantly the time it takes us and our customers to develop new products."
Prof. Dr. Klaus Ditrich
Our approach relies on close interaction between research, pilot plants and production facilities. First, our colleagues from the Competence Center - Chemicals Research and Technology - check in the lab by what method the racemic mixture can be obtained that we need as a starting material. In our lab we then produce the desired optically active amine by the BASF process. Samples which may range from grams to kilograms in size are made available directly since we can use our high-grade lab equipment. For larger volumes, which may be as much as single-digit ton volumes, we have access to our pilot plants. Last but not least, we have also erected a multiproduct plant that is custom-made for our process. We can produce up to 1000 annual tons of optically active amines in that plant - in line with GMP requirements, by the way.
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| Professor Dr. Klaus Ditrich (right) and his team: "Active for optically active amines" |
The path from research to large-scale manufacturing surely often holds surprises...
And in that case we obviously benefit from the experiences we gather in the formulation stage, especially when it comes to meeting reliably, even in multi-ton production, the high quality criteria that our pharmaceutical industry customers frequently demand. This is what makes us particularly strong: the close links between research and production, and our integrated "Verbund" structure that ensures a short time to market.
How close are the contacts that you as a development team have with customers?
These contacts are close indeed - and obviously always involve my marketing colleagues too. The scientific technical presentations we make to the customers' research units play quite an important role in initiating new business relationships. Moreover, by sharing methods of analysis and information about particularly critical contaminants we are instrumental in reducing significantly the time it takes us and our customers to develop new products.
How intensively will the area of optically active amines be researched in future?
I think the speed of innovation will hardly slow down. We receive a constant flow of inquiries by customers from the life science industry. These inquiries will surely enable us to develop many new products and inventions.
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