Analysis of the reactions used for the preparation of drug candidate molecules.

The purpose of this perspective is to indicate the range of chemistries used in the manufacture of drug candidate molecules and to highlight certain gaps in current technologies. To do this a survey was carried out of chemical syntheses within the Process Chemistry R&D departments of GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Trichloro-oxazolines as activated donors for aminosugar coupling.

Starting from tri-O-acetyl-D-glucal, a combination of the Overman rearrangement and subsequent dihydroxylation produces a range of aminosugars. These can be activated by formation of the corresponding trichloro-oxazolines, which are excellent glycosyl donors as they form disaccharides with good (trans) stereoselectivity under mild conditions. Propagation of these trichloro-oxazolines gave trisaccharides that can then be dehalogenated under a variety of conditions.