Large-scale purification of a deprotected macrocyclic peptide by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) integrated with liquid chromatography in discovery chemistry.

A macrocyclic peptide A was successfully purified in large quantities (∼30 g) in >95 % purity by an integrated two-step orthogonal purification process combining supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with medium-pressure reverse-phase liquid chromatography (MP-RPLC). MP-RPLC was used to fractionate the crude peptide A, remove unwanted trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) originating from the peptide A cleavage off the resin, and convert the peptide A into ammonium acetate salt form, prior to the final purification by SFC. A co-solvent of methanol/acetonitrile containing ammonium acetate and water in CO2 was developed on a Waters BEH 2-Ethylpyridine column. The developed SFC method was readily scaled up onto a 5 cm diameter column to process multi-gram quantities of the MP-RPLC fraction to reach > 95 % purity with a throughput/productivity of 0.96 g/h. The incorporation of SFC with MP-RPLC has been demonstrated to have a broader application in other large-scale polypeptide purifications.

Separation of Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor atropisomers by supercritical fluid chromatography.

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) plays an essential role in multiple cell types responsible for numerous autoimmune diseases, thus inhibition of BTK is anticipated to provide an effective strategy for the clinical treatment of autoimmune diseases. Preparative-scale super/subcritical fluid chromatography (SFC) separation methods for four groups of highly potent and selective BTK inhibitor atropisomers were successfully developed. Depending on the rotation barrier around the chiral axis, the compounds were prepared as a single stereochemically stable atropisomer or as an atropisomeric mixture. Among the four, compound 2 with one rotationally stable atropisomeric center (carbazole/quinazolinedione based) was resolved as a mixture of two atropisomers, while compound 3 (carbazole-chlorine/quinazolinedione based) and 4 (tetrahydrocarbazole-fluorine/quinazolinedione based) with two rotationally stable atropisomeric centers were resolved into a single stable atropisomer. This article discusses the challenges and strategies in preparing large quantities of these atropisomeric active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in support of the BTK program discovery efforts.

Additive free preparative chiral SFC separations of 2,2-dimethyl-3-aryl-propanoic acids.

A series of racemic 2,2-dimethyl-3-aryl-propanoic acids were resolved by chiral supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) without the use of an acidic additive, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). The use of additive-free protic methanol as co-solvent in CO2 was expanded to successfully resolve other series of carboxylic acid containing racemates. Large-scale SFC of racemic acid 4, 3-(1-(4-fluorophenyl)-1H-indazol-5-yl)-2,2-dimethyl-3-phenylpropanoic acid, in methanol without TFA as additive on both Chiralpak AD-H and Chiralcel OJ-H will be discussed, along with impact on throughput and solvent consumption. Investigation of co-solvent effect on peak sharpening of acid racemate 20, 2-(2-chloro-9-fluoro-5H-chromeno[2,3-b]pyridin-5-yl)-2-methylpropanoic acid, without TFA further indicated that methanol in CO2 provided improved peak shape compared with isopropanol (IPA) and acetonitrile. Finally, we discuss the resolution of basic aromatic chiral amines without the addition of basic additives such as diethylamine (DEA) and application of this protocol for the large-scale SFC separation of weakly basic indazole-containing racemate 14, methyl 3-(1H-indazol-5-yl)-2,2-dimethyl-3-phenylpropanoate, in methanol without DEA.

From analytical methods to large scale chiral supercritical fluid chromatography using chlorinated chiral stationary phases.

While traditional non-chlorinated Cellulose- and Amylose-derivatized phases have been used successfully in supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) to resolve a broad variety of chiral compounds, some chiral pharmaceutical compounds are not well resolved on these traditional chiral stationary phases (CSP) due to the lack of chiral selectivity. Since there are no universal CSP to resolve all chiral compounds, chlorinated CSP can be complementary to the non-chlorinated CSP. Chlorinated CSP such as 4-Chloro-3-methylphenyl-carbamatecellulose (Lux-Cellulose-4), 3-Chloro-4-methylphenyl-carbamatecellulose (Lux-Cellulose-2), 5-Chloro-2-methylphenyl-carbamateamylose (Lux-Amylose-2) and immobilized 3,5-dichlorophenyl-carbamatecellulose (Chiralpak IC) have provided a range of chiral recognition mechanisms which have allowed the authors to successfully achieve chiral SFC resolution on several structurally diverse compounds, which are not well resolved in the non-chlorinated CSP. In addition, chlorinated Lux-Cellulose-4, Chiralpak IC and Lux-Amylose-2 have enabled us to utilize non-alcohol solvents as sample diluents and as co-solvents to significantly improve compound solubility and selectivity. This article will discuss the challenges associated with several SFC applications on both coated and immobilized chlorinated CSP to deliver high-quality drug candidates in large quantity. The use of dichloromethane in both sample preparation and as co-solvent in CO2 to increase sample solubility will be presented in preparative example #2 and #3.