Most products in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industry are solids and are isolated by filtration or centrifugation. Many chemists and engineers have problems in filtration during early scale up, usually because of poor particle size distribution or presence of fines.

Scientists at the Universities of Brussels and Louvain in collaboration with UCB Pharma in Belgium have studied the solvent-mediated transformation of one polymorphic form of etiracetam ( the racemic intermediate in the synthesis of levetiracetam, marketed as Keppra by UCB Pharma) to the favoured form I prior to isolation of this desired form from methanol.  (OPRD, 2012, 16, 49-56).

The group of David O’Hagan at the University of St Andrews in Scotland has published a very useful review on Deoxyfluorination Reagents for Organic Synthesis [Al-Maharik N et al, Aldrichimica Acta, 2011, 44 (3) 65-75].

The Wacker oxidation is a powerful synthetic transformation for converting a terminal olefin into a ketone.

Thiourea is often the reagent of choice for synthesising pyrimidines.  If a sulphur free pyrimidine is required the sulphur needs to be removed oxidatively or reductively.

Many primary amides are commercially available but the list of commercially available secondary amides is much smaller.