Towards medicinal mechanochemistry: evolution of milling from pharmaceutical solid form screening to the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)

The aim of this critical review is to provide a broad but digestible overview of mechanochemical synthesis, i.e. reactions conducted by grinding solid reactants together with no or minimal solvent. Although mechanochemistry has historically been a sideline approach to synthesis it may soon move into the mainstream because it is increasingly apparent that it can be practical, and even advantageous, and because of the opportunities it provides for developing more sustainable methods. Concentrating on recent advances, this article covers industrial aspects, inorganic materials, organic synthesis, cocrystallisation, pharmaceutical aspects, metal complexes (including metal-organic frameworks), supramolecular aspects and characterization methods. The historical development, mechanistic aspects, limitations and opportunities are also discussed (314 references). This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012

The aim of this review article on recent developments of mechanochemistry (nowadays established as a part of chemistry) is to provide a comprehensive overview of advances achieved in the field of atomistic processes, phase transformations, simple and multicomponent nanosystems and peculiarities of mechanochemical reactions. Industrial aspects with successful penetration into fields like materials engineering, heterogeneous catalysis and extractive metallurgy are also reviewed. The hallmarks of mechanochemistry include influencing reactivity of solids by the presence of solid-state defects, interphases and relaxation phenomena, enabling processes to take place under non-equilibrium conditions, creating a well-crystallized core of nanoparticles with disordered near-surface shell regions and performing simple dry time-convenient one-step syntheses. Underlying these hallmarks are technological consequences like preparing new nanomaterials with the desired properties or producing these materials in a reproducible way with high yield and under simple and easy operating conditions. The last but not least hallmark is enabling work under environmentally friendly and essentially waste-free conditions (822 references).

Recently, mechanical milling using a mixer mill or planetary mill has been fruitfully utilized in organic synthesis under solvent-free conditions. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of various solvent-free mechanochemical organic reactions, including metal-mediated or -catalyzed reactions, condensation reactions, nucleophilic additions, cascade reactions, Diels-Alder reactions, oxidations, reductions, halogenation/aminohalogenation, etc. The ball milling technique has also been applied to the synthesis of calixarenes, rotaxanes and cage compounds, asymmetric synthesis as well as the transformation of biologically active compounds.