Increased Yield
A difficult step in the manufacture of tenofovir is near the end, when the mixture is "like oatmeal, making it very difficult to stir," said Joseph Fortunak, who left Abbott Laboratories to teach at Howard. That slows the next reaction, a problem because the intermediary is highly unstable and decomposes, thus lowering the yield.
Fortunak's graduate student Adrian Williams tested different methods to improve this step. A catalyst, TBAB (tetrabutylammonium bromide) sped up the reaction and thinned the oatmeal-like mixture into something "like milk," Williams said. But unexpectedly, it made the product more stable, which substantially increased the yield. This lowered the cost by about 20%.
Read more about this topic: Tenofovir
Famous quotes containing the words increased and/or yield:
“The influx of women into paid work and her increased power raise a woman’s aspirations and hopes for equal treatment at home. Her lower wage and status at work and the threat of divorce reduce what she presses for and actually expects.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“Whether, if you yield not to your father’s choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be in shady cloister mewed,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they that master so their blood
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)