Grignard Reactions under Control with RTCal™ – Calorimetry in Real-Time

Grignard reactions are widely used to produce intermediates and APIs in the pharmaceutical industry. They are known to be problematic in many cases as numerous problems related to induction time, iodine effect and mixing effects may pose the risk of hazardous situations. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the reaction is crucial.

One of the major manufacturers of chemicals and intermediates runs Grignard reactions frequently and is highly experienced in this area.

He uses RTCal™ to monitor the formation of the Grignard reagent in order to enhance the quality of information and to keep the critical step of the reaction better under control.

Potentially, the greatest risk of a Grignard reaction is related to the induction period, at the end of which a considerable amount of reactant may have already accumulated.  Therefore, the addition of the bromotoluene needs to be controlled and monitored carefully.

The online heat monitoring with RTCal™ indicates a very strong exotherm of about 150W at the beginning of the reaction which was very difficult to control in production. Once the reaction runs smoothly the power is at an acceptable level of 35w.

Depending on the depth of information required, the system can additionally compute the overall reaction heat including temperatures of dosing and accumulation.

Because RTCal™ can also be applied on a small scale, the hazardous risk and consumption of initial materials can be minimized substantially.

Regardless of whether you are looking for immediate thermal data, searching for specific details within your process, generating data to develop a kinetic model or simply optimizing a process, RTCal™ will help to find the answer in an efficient, accurate and cost effective manner.