A biocatalysis based method for the solvent-free production of N-alkanoyl-N-methylglucamide (MEGA) surfactants was developed and used as a case study for the evaluation of different environmental assessment tools, such as the freeware package EATOS (Environmental Assessment Tool for Organic Synthesis). In order to also consider energy usage and process facilities, e.g. heating, stirring and vacuum, a complementary tool was needed; hence the EcoScale method and the use of an energy monitoring socket were also exploited. The solvent-free method followed by a simple hydrolysis step gave a final amide yield of 99% and a product essentially free of remaining substrate, N-methylglucamine (MEG). The latter is important since MEG can potentially be converted to carcinogenic nitrosamines. The absence of solvent in the reaction medium was also found to result in a significantly reduced potential environmental impact. The environmental tools used in this study were further scrutinized, and even if they represent some of the best freely available tools for evaluation of early stage process development, some points for further improvements are suggested.
基于
生物催化的无溶剂生产N-烷酰基-N-
甲基葡萄糖胺(
MEGA)表面活性剂的方法被开发出来,并作为案例研究用于评估不同的环境评估工具,例如免费的EATOS(有机合成环境评估工具)软件包。为了考虑能耗和工艺设施,例如加热、搅拌和真空,需要一个补充工具;因此,还利用了EcOScale方法和能量监测插座。该无溶剂方法经过简单的
水解步骤,最终得到的酰胺产率为99%,且产品基本上不含剩余底物N-
甲基葡萄糖胺(
MEG)。后者很重要,因为
MEG可能会转化为致癌的亚
硝胺。反应介质中缺乏溶剂也显著减少了潜在的环境影响。本研究中使用的环境工具也进行了进一步审查,尽管它们代表了一些最好且可免费获得的早期流程开发评估工具,但仍提出了一些改进建议。