Grants
The ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable has identified key synthetic chemistry and process research challenges whose solutions would result in more efficient pharmaceutical process development and production. To spur research in these areas, the Roundtable created and maintains a research grant program, whose impact over the years has been recently documented. The Roundtable also advocates for targeted green chemistry and engineering support to academic and government labs from international and U.S. federal funding agencies.
Research Grants
Over $3 million dollars (US) have been funded by the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable since their grant program began in 2007. Each Spring, new Request for Proposals (RFPs) are issued for different key research challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry.
2022 Request for Proposals (RFPs)
DEADLINE: May 15, 2022, 5 p.m. EDT
Proposals are accepted from public and private institutions of higher education worldwide. Follow the guidelines in the RFP of interest (links below) and submit a single PDF proposal to gcipr@acs.org.
Supporting our Key Research Areas, these $50,000 grants are for a 12-month research commitment:
- Selective Reduction of Aromatic Rings in Advanced Scaffolds
This grant will focus on overcoming practical challenges associated with the selective reduction of aromatic rings in advanced scaffolds. The R&D will assist the Roundtable’s Medicinal Chemistry initiative. - Development of Greener Oligonucleotide Synthesis and/or Purification
This grant will focus on improving the sustainability of oligonucleotide manufacturing by addressing one or more of the environmental challenges facing the current process. The R&D will assist the Roundtable’s Greener Oligonucleotide focus team. - Increasing the Breadth and Utility of Enzymes in Pharma Manufacturing
This grant will toward overcoming enzymatic activity, selectivity, substrate scope limitations, allowing broader application and scale-up of enzymatic reactions, particularly C-C bond forming reactions. The R&D will assist the Roundtable’s Biocatalysis initiative. - Greener Peptide Synthesis and/or Purification
This grant will focus on developing strategies for greener synthesis and purification of peptides to support the Roundtable’s Greener Peptides initiative. - Utilization of Gas Chromatography for Separation of Higher Molecular Weight Compounds to Reduce Solvent Waste
The focus of the R&D will be toward investigating the sustainability of a range of chromatographic analytical and purification methodologies commonly applied in the pharmaceutical industry. - Expanding Applications of Process Analytical Technology with Flow Chemistry
This grant will focus on the development of new process analytical technology methods or systems in combination with flow chemistry.
The Ignition Grant Program provides $25,000 for a 6 month research project:
- Ignition Grants for Green Chemistry and Engineering Research
Four awards available, providing ‘ignition’ funding for novel and innovative ideas that have the potential to provide sustainable solutions to chemistry and engineering problems relevant to the pharmaceutical industry from discovery to manufacturing. The goal is to provide researchers with initial funding to obtain preliminary results that may then be used by the researchers to help apply for funding from traditional funding agencies.
Awarded Grants
-
2021
Duncan Browne, University College of London, $50,000
“Learning to Extrude Chemical Reactions”Malgorzata Chwatko, University of Kentucky, $50,000
“Improvement of Peptide Yield and Solvent Reuse via Membrane Enhanced Peptides Synthesis”Hans Renata, Scripps Research, $50,000
“Biocatalytic Synthesis of Challenging Noncanonical Amino Acids”Jennifer Schomaker, University of Wisconsin-Madison, $50,000
“Tunable Catalytic C(sp3)-H Functionalization of Heterocyclic Scaffolds”Qiu Wang, Duke University, $25,000
“Copper-Catalyzed Carbon-Carbon Coupling of Alcohols and Alkenes”Han Sen Soo, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, $25,000
“Photocatalytic Carbon-Carbon Bond Activation and Functionalization to Access Unnatural α-Amino Acids”Mélanie Hall, University of Graz, Austria, $25,000
“Enzymatic nitration strategies for the biocatalytic synthesis of nitrogen containing molecules”Florian Hollfelder, University of Cambridge, $25,000
“Exploring fitness landscapes of enzymes for chiral synthesis” -
2020
Tristan Lambert & Phillip Milner, Cornell University, $50,000
“Bioinspired Metal-Organic Frameworks as Heterogeneous Catalysts for Peptide Synthesis”Kamalesh K. Sirkar, New Jersey Institute of Technology, $50,000
“Develop membranes for pressure-driven separation of solutes and solvents in the 50-600 Da range from API synthesis mixtures”Pasi Virta, University of Turku, $50,000
“Improved synthesis of nucleotide blockmers using a precipitative soluble”Daniel J. Weix, University of Wisconsin-Madison, $50,000
“Metal-Mediated Electrochemistry: A new frontier for surfactants”Martin Andersson, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), $25,000
“Developing New Surfactants for Easy Separation”Soumitra Athavale & Frances H. Arnold, California Institute of Technology, $25,000
“Biocatalytic C-H bond Functionalization for the Synthesis of Enantioenriched Amines and Amides”Matthew A. Hostetler, Marshall University, $25,000
“Cups: An Atom efficient and low-waste producing method of inverse solid-phase peptide synthesis”Tehshik P. Yoon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, $25,000
“Oxidative C–N Cross-Coupling Enabled by Iron Photochemistry” -
2019
Ryan Shenvi, Scripps Research, $50,000
“C–N Attached-Ring Synthesis by Markovnikov Hydroamination”Susan Olesik, The Ohio State University, $46,996
“A Study of the Environmental Impact of Analytical and Preparative Scale Supercritical Fluid Chromatographic Processes”Fernando Albericio and Beatriz G. de la Torre, University of KwaZulu-Natal, $25,000
“Baroc, a Green α-Amino Protecting Group for Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis”Mark Mason, The University of Toledo, $25,000
“Iron-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Heterocycles”Aaron Vannucci, University of South Carolina, $25,000
“A New Approach to Catalyst Immobilization Research: Designing Molecular Catalysts for Heterogeneous Catalysis”Arnaud Voituriez, Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, $25,000
“Towards an Electro-Catalytic Wittig Reaction” -
2018
Song Lin, Cornell University, $25,000
“Electrocatalytic Fluorination Reactions Using Sustainable Fluorine Sources”
Benjamin Wileyn & Jennifer Roizen, Duke University, $25,000
“C-H/C-H Cross-Coupling of Aromatic Compounds with Flow-Through Nanowire Electrode”
Jennifer L. Stockdill, Wayne State University, $50,000
“Catalytic Desulfurization of Peptides” -
2017
Corey Stephenson, University of Michigan, $50,000
“A Microfluidic Platform for Discovery and Optimization of Photoredox Reactions”Jennifer L. Stockdill, Wayne State University, $50,000
“A Green Strategy for the Synthesis of Head-to-Tail Macrocyclic Peptides”James Kiddle, Western Michigan University, $25,000
“The Wittig Reaction Metamorphosis from Phosphorus to Boron”Stephen G. Newman, University of Ottawa, $25,000
“Using Flow Chemistry to Harness Ozone as a Sustainable Oxidant for C–H Functionalization”Andrew Texeira, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, $25,000
“Enhanced Site-Accessibility for Solid-Phase Coupling in Hierarchical Materials” -
2016
Dennis Hall, University of Alberta, $25,000
“Borate-Based Catalytic Directing Groups for Alkene and C–H Functionalization Reactions Using Readily Available Alcohol Substrates”
Oana Luca, University of Colorado – Boulder, $25,000
“Catalyst and Electrolyte-Free Direct Electrochemical Cross Coupling”Jeff Byers, Boston College, $25,000
“Development of an Iron-Based Catalyst for Suzuki-Miyaura Cross Coupling Reactions”Zach Amara, National Des Arvts Et Métiers, $25,000
“Smart Synthesis with Magnetically Recoverable Visible Light Photocatalysts”Leo Choe Peng, Universiti Sains Malaysia, $16,000
“Diafiltration of Monoclonal Antibody using pH Responsive Membrane with Positive Charge.Andrew Zydney, Penn State, $50,000
“Countercurrent Staged Diafiltration for Monoclonal Antibody Formulation.”Amanda Evans, California State University, Fullerton, $50,000
“Enz-Flow/Continuous Bioprocessing: Towards a green continuous flow synthesis of levomilnacipran” -
2015
A. John Blacker, University of Leeds, $50,000
“Process Development of Continuous Flow Oxidative Biotransformations”Graham Dobereiner, Temple University, $50,000
“Tandem Catalytic Process in Flow: Synthesis of amides via mild photochemical carbonylation using CO2 as a carbonyl source”Amanda C. Evans, California State University, $50,000
“Enz-Flow/Continuous Bioprocessing: Towards a green continuous flow synthesis of levomilnacipran” -
2014
Matthias Beller, Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse, $50,000
“Hydrogenation of Amides promoted by Ru- and Fe-Pincer Complexes—Ligand-Metal Cooperative Catalysis for the Mild and Selective Synthesis of Amines”Neal Mankad, University of Illinois at Chicago, $100,000
“Bimetallic Approach to Iron-Catalyzed Coupling Reactions” -
2013
Paul Chirik, Princeton University, $100,000
“Modern Alchemy: New Paradigms for Enabling Base Metal-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling in the Pharmaceutical Industry”Daniel Weix, University of Rochester, $50,000
“Direct Synthesis of Alkylated Arenes and Heteroarenes from the Cross-Coupling of Heteroaromatic Halides in Non-Amide Solvents”Janet Scott, University of Bath, $100,000
“Intelligent Selection of Greener Solvents” -
2012
Neil Garg, UCLA, $60,000
“Development of Green Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions” -
2011
Shannon Stahl, University of Wisconsin-Madison, $150,000
“Oxidation/Epoxidation Methods Without the Use of Chlorinated Solvents: Chemoselective Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation Catalyzed by Earth-Abundant Metals”Wei Zhang, University of Massachusetts-Boston, $25,000
“Greener Grignard Reactions”Charles Liotta, Georgia Tech University, $150,000
“Green and Effective Continuous Catalytic Homo-Nazarov Cyclization Towards Multi-Step Synthesis of Heteroaromatic Ring-Fused Clyclohexanones” -
2010
David Cole-Hamilton, University of St. Andrews, $150,000
“Amide Hydrogenation to Amines” -
2009
Robert Crabtree, Yale University, $160,000
“Atom Economic Alcohol Activation and Amide Synthesis Using Base-Metal Catalysts Heterogenized on Titania Nanoparticles” -
2008
Chao-Jun Li, McGill University, $130,000
“Chiral Amines via Asymmetric Multi-component Reactions”
Michael Krische, University of Texas-Austin, $129,000
“Byproduct-Free Synthesis of Chiral Amines via C-C Bond Forming Transfer Hydrogenation and Hydrogen Auto-Transfer” -
2007
Robert Maleczka and Milton Smith, Michigan State University, $100,000
“Catalytic C-H Activation/Cross-Coupling of Aromatics (Avoiding the Preparation of Haloaromatics)”Jianliang Xiao, University of Liverpool, $126,166
“Hydrogenation of Amides by Multifunctional Catalysts via Ground State Destabilisation”