Industrial process for preparation of clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate

Abstract

An improved process for the manufacture of Clopidogrel starting from 2-(2-thienyl)ethylamine, which eliminates the isolation of an unstable intermediate like 2-(2-thienyl)ethyl formimine by subjecting it to a one pot cyclization to get 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrothieno (3,2-c) pyridine of Formula II and further reacting with halo-compound of formula III (where X is Cl or Br) at 20 to 90° C. temperature characterized in a solvent like water and / or dichloroethane in presence of organic or inorganic bases is disclosed herein. This inventions also discloses Crystalline Form I of (+)-(S)-clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate and its preparation thereof.

Description

[0001]The application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 591,657, filed Sep. 5, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to an improved process for manufacturing (+)-(S)-alpha-(2-chlorophenyl)-6,7-dihydrothieno[3,2-c]pyridine-5 (4-H)-acetic acid methyl ester of Formula I, commonly known as Clopidogrel starting from 2-(2-thienyl)ethylamine. The present invention further relates to the process for resolution of the racemic clopidogrel into its optical antipodes with high chiral purity. The present invention also provides a reproducible process for production of hydrogen sulphate salt of clopidogrel in two crystalline forms viz: Form-I and Form-II.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003](+)-(S)-alpha-2-(chlorophenyl)-6,7-dihydrothieno[3,2-c]pyridine-5 (4-H)-acetic acid methyl ester known as clopidogrel under the International Non-Proprietary Name is marketed as hydrogen sulphate salt. ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0029]It is, therefore, an objective of the present invention to provide an industrially useful process for the manufacture of Clopidogrel from starting materials that are readily and commercially available, relatively inexpensive, and easily maneuvered at large scale operations.

[0034]To provide suitable solvents for resolving racemic clopidogrel base into substantially pure enantiomers in a single diasteriomeric fractional separation step in higher outputs.

[0036]Accordingly, in a first aspect, there is provided an improved process for the manufacture of Clopidogrel starting from 2-(2-thienyl)ethylamine, which eliminates the isolation of an unstable intermediate like 2-(2-thienyl)ethyl formimine by subjecting it to a one pot cyclization to get 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrothieno (3,2-c) pyridine of Formula II.

[0042]In a third aspect, the present invention provides an improved industrial process for crystallizing out polymorph ‘Form I’ of (+) clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate (also called clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate) in solvents such as methyl propyl ketone, methyl isopropyl ketone, diethyl ketone or their mixture thereof, ethyl acetate, mixture of ethyl acetate and methyl propyl ketone, mixture of ethyl acetate and methyl isopropyl ketone, mixture of ethyl acetate and diethyl ketone, in a reproducible manner without detectable contamination of ‘Form II’.

[0045]The present invention provides process for preparation of both Form-I and Form-II from the same solvent, i.e. ethyl acetate, at different experimental condition, which gives operation-wise flexibility and excellent reproducibility, making the process practical and plant friendly.

Problems solved by technology

Although some of the problems are solved by modifying the reaction conditions or route of synthesis as taught by the prior art, there still exist problems like polymerization of intermediates which need to be investigated.

This increases the number of operations and makes process plant unfriendly from industrial scale-up point of view.

Moreover, the isolated intermediate, 2-(2-thienyl)ethyl formimine, is not a stable compound and polymerizes to give a trimer which makes it difficult to store / handle in normal conditions.

Carrying out reactions at above temperatures, that too for longer period, lead to formation of various impurities due to the lack of selectivity of reactions or decomposition of the reactants or products, which necessitates extra purification resulting into yield losses and increase in number of operations not desirable for a practical process.

But in practice, the diasteriomeric salt that separates out was filtered, and purified by refluxing, cooling and filtration from acetone results in low yield of the dextro isomer (55%).

However, this process was not suitable for the production of Form I of clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate on an industrial scale owing to its thermodynamic instability in solvents like acetone and invariably yielded Form II without having the need of keeping for longer periods (ref.

Although the process mentioned in the '443 patent application works in butyl acetate, which is known to have hazardous properties (affects central nervous system and exposure limit is 150 ppm), but fails to give pure Form I in other industrially friendly solvents like ethyl acetate under the specified conditions.

So, it is evident from the prior art that methods to produce Form-I of clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate from different solvents are poorly reproducible, necessitating the optimization of experimental conditions other than of the selection of solvents.

Apart from the inconsistency of the process in solvents like ethyl acetate, the process given in the '443 patent application also suffers from operational problems from an industrial scale-up point of view as follows;

During the salt formation in solvents like ethyl acetate at lower temperature, the product forms a sticky & lumpy mass that sticks to the stirrer and difficult to disperse due to the lowered solubility at this condition,

The workability of the process found limit to single solvent mainly butyl acetate which is a hazardous and industrially unfriendly,

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