Time flies – IMPACTIVE is already celebrating its first birthday. The collaborative consortium, which works together towards the development of innovative mechanochemical methods for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, just celebrated its annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by the Portuguese project partner IST-ID. The discussions covered the latest developments of the different teams, as well as the strategies towards patent protection and commercialisation. In the future, IMPACTIVE will look into technology transfer tactics, to ensure the industry adopts the latest advances in mechanochemistry.
During the first twelve months of the IMPACTIVE project, funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe framework, the different teams have worked in the development of innovative mechanochemical methods for the manufacture of key Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. The cross collaboration between the different Work Packages has already afforded attractive results, including mechanochemical methods to make carbon–bromine and carbon–nitrogen bonds, which will soon appear published in peer-reviewed publications. Additionally, IMPACTIVE researchers have also recently reviewed the relationships between mechanochemistry and green chemistry – both batch and continuous mechanochemical methods provide more environmentally-friendly organic syntheses, with a lower footprint than solvent-based solutions.
The meeting marked an opportunity to discuss the different challenges in terms of intellectual property protection – a key milestone for IMPACTIVE. The protection of the processes based in mechanochemistry, including ball milling, twin-screw extrusion, and resonant acoustic mixing, among other methodologies, is important towards transferring the technology to industrial settings.
“We were really happy to warmly welcome all of the IMPACTIVE project partners in Portugal, it was a great opportunity to see each other again, discuss the different developments in the Work Packages and inspire interesting ideas for future research,” said Clara Gomes, from IMPACTIVE partner IST-ID, in Portugal. “We hope that the sessions sparked new opportunities towards more efficient mechanochemical methods, with applications in the synthesis of sustainable pharmaceuticals. The overall goal of IMPACTIVE –revolutionising the manufacture of medicines– will need to count on the cooperation across our partners, and Lisbon offered a superb setting to provoke creative conversations and catalyse collaborations.”
“Only twelve months after the project kick-off in Montpellier, IMPACTIVE is already swarming with success stories, as demonstrated by the partners’ presentations during our annual meeting,’ says Evelina Colacino, the coordinator of IMPACTIVE and a researcher at the University of Montpellier, France. “It’s a great challenge, coordinating a collaboration within 17 institutions, including academic and industrial leaders, in 10 different countries across Europe. But we’re all united by our passion for mechanochemistry, a technology that could effectively reduce the environmental impact of chemical and pharmaceutical procedures, in line with the 12 principles of green chemistry, as well as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Green Deal. Without solvents, sustainability is one step closer!”
