Levomilnacipran is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that contains a central chiral cyclopropane ring, a three-carbon chemical structure found in many pharmaceutical compounds. It is a potent serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) that is currently being prescribed as treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in adults. The application of bioprocessing and continuous flow strategies can achieve increased production efficiency, optimal stereoselectivity, and improved sustainability in a multitude of organic synthetic processes, including levomilnacipran synthesis. A five-step telescoped continuous processing and bioprocessing synthetic pathway for levomilnacipran is in development in our group. One of these steps includes the reduction of the ester intermediate, ethyl (1<i>R</i>,2<i>S</i>)-2-(ethylcarbamoyl)-2-phenylcyclopropane-1-carboxylate. A range of both chemical and biochemical approaches for sustainably achieving this reduction are being investigated and will be reported on here.

Towards a novel synthesis of levomilnacipran under continuous processing/bioprocessing conditions - reduction of the ester intermediate

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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