Background
The development of a cost effective, safe, and sustainable manufacturing process for crop protection active ingredients is essential for the successful commercialization of agrochemicals. As part of our efforts of identifying process friendly synthetic technology to enable manufacturing route development, we are seeking a scalable, selective, and cost-effective process for mono-hydroxylation of readily available synthetic building blocks. Currently available methods often involve multiple synthetic steps, costly and non-scalable reagents, and long development timeline. We invite public and private sector scientists to join in our efforts by submitting a proposal to develop and/or demonstrate a low-cost, scalable and sustainable process/method to enable the intended synthetic transformations.
Challenge
We are seeking short, non-confidential proposals that describe a plan for a scalable, selective and cost-effective process for mono-hydroxylation of readily synthetic building blocks:
Must haves:
- Scalable: Can be scaled up to >Mton within a development time of 2 years
- Cost effective: Less than $30 total conversion cost per kg of product at commercial scale (>100 Mtons)
- A feasible path of isolating the desired product with a desirable purity
- Relevant literatures or industrial application examples supporting the proposal
Nice-to-haves:
- For process involve biocatalyst or metal catalyst, commercial source and/or preparation method of the catalysts are desirable
- The proposed process adapts green chemistry principles: Minimizing waste generation, using benign solvents, being less hazardous and atomic efficient
Approaches not of interest:
- Process presents any significant operation safety concern at commercial scale
- Process requires stoichiometric heavy metals
Proposals should include:
- Detailed method or plan* on how we can develop and implement the process
- Relevant literature or industrial application references
- A high-level cost estimate
- A proposed development timeline
*Please exclude any proprietary and confidential information such as specific reagents, process conditions, specific enzymes and/or sequences
What's in it for you?
- Funding (up to $100,000 inclusive of indirect costs**) The funding will be distributed based on the achievement of specific milestones, including proof of concept using Corteva-provided subtract.
- Corteva in-kind resources as applicable
- Opportunities for extended collaboration and additional funding if successful
** Indirect costs available to academic and nonprofit research institutes only