Sinocompound Catalysts Co., Ltd, a global provider of advanced homogeneous catalysts and ligands, has announced production of the phosphine-based QPhos ligand in kilogram quantities for commercial use. With this ligand now accessible on a large scale, scientists across the globe can incorporate QPhos-based catalysts in their drug discovery, screening and process development programs to optimize and streamline their product development phase.

Pharmaceutical companies invest significantly in drug development to optimize product synthesis and expedite their innovations to market. QPhos is a promising ligand in metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, which are fundamental to construct carbon-based bonds featured in most drug scaffolds. However, until now QPhos has not been readily available in commercial quantities, hindering its adoption in process development and scale-up programs.

“There’s an enormous amount of untapped potential in ligands that scientists simply can’t access on a large scale, so they discount them from their screening programs,” says Dr Carin Seechurn, Associate Director – Technology Solutions, Sinocompound. “Our capability to scale-up the QPhos ligand represents a significant milestone in improving ligand accessibility for researchers. As we continue to expand our manufacturing processes thanks to our new plant in Tongling, we’re excited to provide more overlooked ligands and products commercially.”

QPhos is a robust dialkylarylphosphine ligand developed by Professor John Hartwig for metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions¹. Bulky and electron-rich, it performs excellently in many transformations including α-arylation of carbonyl compounds and late-stage C-C bond formation.