Sustainability\nAssessment during Early Stage Chemical\nProcess Design: Comparing Two Different Methods of Synthesizing Noroxymorphone

Assessing the sustainability of chemical processes in\nterms of\nenvironmental, economic, and social aspects, especially during the\nearly stages of development, is crucial to designing sustainable manufacturing\nroutes. In this study, we compared the sustainability performance\nof an electrochemical route for synthesizing noroxymorphone, an intermediate\nin the synthesis of opioid antagonists, with that of a conventional\nprocess. For that purpose, we followed the Safe and Sustainable by\nDesign (SSbD) framework of the European Commission and applied selected\nsustainability indicators from the literature. Compared to the conventional\nprocedure, the electrochemical process has the potential to offer\nadvantages in all three dimensions of sustainability, primarily due\nto the lower environmental impacts of the employed reagents in the\nupstream supply chain and their reduced hazards during the production\nprocess. Furthermore, it was found that further steering the electrochemical\nprocess toward sustainability is possible by optimizing the solvents\nand reducing the use of hazardous reagents.