GreenCentre Canada licenses pharma catalyst

GreenCentre Canada (GCC) has licensed a chemical process developed at the Univ of Alberta that addresses one of the key research priorities of the pharmaceutical industry. The process — developed by U of A chemist Dr Dennis Hall — uses a novel, heavy-metal-free catalyst to create amide bonds at room temperature without creating toxic by-products. Amide bonds are a common chemical compound used in the preparation of pharmaceutical compounds. GCC will scale up the catalyst to make molecules of interest to pharma companies, as well as the plastics and agricultural industries. GCC has now licensed more than 20 promising discoveries for further development. The Kingston ON-based centre is a Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research which is funding by industry and the federal and Ontario governments….