Every group needs a leader. In our case, that’s the duty of a research group within the Institute Charles Gerhardt (ICGM) at the University of Montpellier, in France. This partner is responsible for work package 1 (WP1), Management and coordination, ensuring everyone works together smoothly. This means guaranteeing an effective communication flow between partners and resolving any issues that may arise over the course of the project. For a huge consortium such as ours, with 17 partners spread across 11 different countries, this is no small task! In addition, this team also leads the development of innovative mechanochemical methods at a lab scale. Curious to learn more? Keep reading!
Managing a Horizon Europe project (and inspiring it)
As coordinators of IMPACTIVE, Montpellier has a duty of, well… coordinating 17 partners. They ensure that the consortium meets its its goals and objectives and liaises with the European Commission. Their duties also include research data and outputs management, considering IMPACTIVE has an Open Science Strategy. After all, this team is the scientific leader of the project. Such responsibility means that they have a comprehensive view of the project, by being involved with all WPs and ensuring that the scientific achievements are of the highest standard. Moreo ver, IMPACTIVE builds on existing background knowledge of the scientific coordinator related to the preparation of APIs through mechanochemistry and further developed within the framework of the EU Programme COST Action CA18112 “Mechanochemistry for Sustainable Industry,” which was also led by Montpellier and included many of our current partners.
Since IMPACTIVE deals with a sensitive topic, (green) pharmaceuticals, the team at the University of Montpellier also oversees ethics and risk management. However, our coordinator is not alone in this endeavour. Periodic risk monitoring is conducted by the WP leaders, who support our manager work. partner also helps with the developing of an ethics plan prior to the start of each task. This provides a basis to identify, minimise, and manage ethical issues. Last but not least, management duties also involve handling the project’s financial resources. We know that talking about money is hard, but in a project such as ours, we need to use it wisely so that all partners’ needs are met, allowing them to develop their work effectively.
Lab scale mechanochemical synthesis
Montpellier is not only responsible for the scientific strategy of the project, which constitutes already an important amount of work, but is also in charge of the lab-scale synthesis of various strategic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and key intermediates. This means they are also responsible of the scientific strategy of WP2.
To achieve this, they use different mechanochemical processes, both in discontinuous (batch) and continuous modes. Specifically, this team works with ball milling, resonant acoustic mixing (RAM), and twin-screw extrusion techniques.
Our researchers’ objective is to develop alternative synthetic routes for different APIs, aiming to shift from conventional solution-based methods to mechanochemistry using these three technologies. Their strategy begins with batch processes (ball milling and RAM technique) at different scales, and then translates the most promising outcomes to the extruder, enabling continuous processing. This “leave-no-stone-unturned” approach allows IMPACTIVE to identify the best technology for each transformation and facilitates the transition from a batch to continuous processing.
In summary, Montpellier is advancing multi-step mechanochemical methods through a comprehensive technological assessment of different API targets, investigating not only the final product but also the entire synthetic pathway for the targets under their responsibility, transversally working with other units, within WP2 (Radboud University) and across WP3-WP6.
At the base of IMPACTIVE’s workflow
Since this team lies at the core of the WP dealing with synthesis, this means that they are shipping numerous compounds across the different WPs. This starts with WP3: multi-component forms and formulation. This WP excels in crystallographic identification, meaning that their experts can tell whether a compound is crystalline or amorphous and which technologies are suitable to achieve each form. So, Montpellier’s approach involves identifying the most promising systems, and see what’s worth translating over to the other work packages.
Such collaboration starts with WP3, multi-component forms and formulation. This WP excels in crystallographic identification, meaning its experts can determine whether a compound is crystalline or amorphous, and which technologies deliver a specific form. Therefore, the APIs prepared by Montpellier team, using different mechanochemical processing conditions are assessed in WP3 and simultaneously in WP4 to determine the kinetics of their processes.
As mentioned earlier, Montpellier team operates at lab-scale with a capacity of hundreds of grams per day. Clearly, this capacity falls short of satisfying market needs. That’s where WP5 comes in, with scientists managing kilo-scale production. Nevertheless, Montpellier also has some tasks within this WP, focusing on large-scale RAM synthesis as well as twin-screw extrusion of the most promising systems developed in WP2.
When it comes to choosing the best method for synthesising a compound, yield isn’t the only factor. Time, cost, and other variables must also be considered, though they are not always directly comparable. One particularly important factor for IMPACTIVE is environmental impact. Taking all these outcomes into account is a challenge faced by Montpellier as well as the other partners, specifically our colleagues from WP6. This is all about demonstrating that mechanochemistry is a viable alternative, even at the scale required for organic synthesis in real-world applications, such as active pharmaceutical ingredients, as is the case in IMPACTIVE.
Our consortium leverages the collective expertise of scientists from a wide spectrum of fields, making us more than ready to take on this challenge. Proof of this is that the University of Montpellier unit has already achieved plenty of interesting results, and transversally studied across the different WPs. We cannot talk about them yet as the patenting process is ongoing. However, publications will come at some point.
An international team
One of the great strengths of this team is its international character, bringing together people from Italy, Spain, France, Greece, and Argentina. This diversity is not only an asset to the scientific work but also enriches Montpellier’s interactions, creating a dynamic and collaborative environment, also enriched by hosting the Ph.D. students and post-docs from the other units to conduct dedicated experiments with the mechanochemical devices available in Montpellier team.
Different habits, perspectives, and approaches shape the way our colleagues collaborate, and this is reflected in their daily activities. It’s not just about working and producing results in chemistry; it’s also about human exchange. Being part of such a multicultural team makes flexibility second nature, and this translates into smooth collaboration across our entire consortium.