High-pressure activation for the solvent- and catalyst-free syntheses of heterocycles, pharmaceuticals and esters.

Abstract

High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) was found to be an efficient activation method in several catalyst- and solvent-free reactions and has found application for the syntheses of heterocycles and the preparation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) via acylation and acid- and solvent-free esterification. The reactions were carried out at ambient pressure (control) and under HHP (up to 3.8 kbar) conditions. These representative reactions provided higher yields for the products and HHP enabled truly green processes that are catalyst- and solvent-free, to occur with high yields and producing only non-toxic by-products. A computational study accompanies the experimental data to interpret the outcome of the reactions.