Microwave-Assisted, One-Pot Synthesis of Doxycycline under Heterogeneous Catalysis in Water.
Fabio BucciolElia MaffeisEmanuela Calcio GaudinoLaszlo JicsinszkySilvia TagliapietraAlessandro BargeCristina PrandiGiancarlo CravottoPublished in: Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) (2021)
The selective synthesis of active pharmaceutical molecules is a challenging issue, particularly when attempting to make the reactions even more sustainable. The present work focuses on the microwave-assisted hydrogenolysis of oxytetracycline to selectively produce α-doxycycline. Although the combination of microwave irradiation and a heterogeneous rhodium catalyst provided good conversions, the selective synthesis of active α-doxycycline was only achieved when an oxytetracycline-cyclodextrin complex was used as the starting material, giving the desired product at 34.0% yield in a one-step reaction under very mild conditions.