Abstract:

In this presentation, examples will be given to illustrate the role played by catalysis and reaction engineering in the development of robust and high yielding chemical processes in the pharmaceutical industry. These examples include heterogeneously-catalyzed Suzuki cross coupling and Heck coupling reaction^[1], asymmetric hydrogenation of a-ketoesters over cinchona-modified Pt/alumina catalysts^[2], kinetic influences on enantioselectivty in asymmetric hydrogenation^[3,4], and applications of in-situ kinetic probes for kinetic and pathway analysis of catalytic reactions^[5].