Chiral Quest Inc. Expands Proprietary Catalyst Portfolio Following Issue of U.S. Patent for KetalPhos Family

14-Oct-2004

VioQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent No. 6,727,377 for asymmetric catalysis based on chiral phospholanes and hydroxyl phospholanes.

The patent was issued to Professor Xumu Zhang, Chief Technology Officer of Chiral Quest, VioQuest's wholly-owned subsidiary providing chiral products, technology and services to the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries. Chiral Quest, Inc. is the exclusive licensee of the patent.

The use of the new chiral phospholanes (Ketalphos and f-KetalPhos) can result in one of the most efficient syntheses of chiral amines and amino acids as they offer high activity and enantioselectivity in asymmetric hydrogenation of alkenes. A key feature is that the diastereomers of these ligands are derived from the same chiral source, D-mannitol, and offer the opposite enantioselectivity in asymmetric catalysis.

"The KetalPhos family, hydroxyl phospholanes and their diastereomers can be prepared from common and accessible D-mannitol, making these catalysts very cost-effective," said Professor Xumu Zhang, Chief Technology Officer of Chiral Quest. "Their properties are similar to certain more expensive benchmark ligands in current industrial commercial processes. Members of the KetalPhos family of ligands and catalysts could become an important part of the efficient manufacture of many pharmaceutical and fine chemical products."

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