Glucuronidation of bile acids under flow conditions: design of experiments and Koenigs–Knorr reaction optimization

• Serena Mostarda^a
• Paolo Filipponi^a
• Roccaldo Sardella^a
• Francesco Venturoni^a
• Benedetto Natalini^a
• Roberto Pellicciaria^b
• Antimo Gioiello^*a

• ^aLaboratory of Medicinal and Advanced Synthetic Chemistry (Lab MASC), Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
• ^bTES Pharma S.r.l., Corciano, Italy

An efficient method for the C₃-glucuronidation of bile acids is developed under flow conditions. A modular mesoreactor assisted flow set-up was combined with statistical design of experiments to speed up the optimization of the Koenigs–Knorr reaction in terms of yield, regioselectivity, costs, as well as technical and practical standpoints. Using the optimal conditions, selective glucuronidation of naturally occurring bile acids was successfully achieved offering a new, valuable route to C₃-glucuronidated bile acids useful for biological, diagnostic and PK/ADMET investigations.

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