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The Pfizer Green Chemistry metrics program is described and exemplified with a case history involving the synthesis of (S,S)-reboxetine succinate. The initial route used a classical resolution approach and generated high levels of waste. This route was replaced by an enantiospecific synthesis which used Sharpless epoxidation chemistry, an enzymatic process to selectively protect a primary alcohol and a new efficient method of chiral morpholine construction as key steps. These improvements reduced the levels of waste produced by the synthesis by more than 90%. Detailed metrics starting from a common starting material (trans-cinnamyl alcohol) for all routes of synthesis are presented.

Redevelopment of the commercial process for the synthesis of (±)-reboxetine methanesulfonate is described. An optimized and efficient process for the synthesis of (±)-reboxetine starting from cinnamyl alcohol was developed. The redeveloped process minimizes impurity formation and utilizes simplified processing to substantially improve process yield and throughput, and is suitable for the efficient synthesis of multiton quantities of reboxetine.

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