Editorial pubs.acs.org/OPRD
Editorial: Special Feature Sections on (a) Crystallisation and Polymorphism and (b) Potential Genotoxic Impurities in 2015 rganic Process Research & Design (OPRD), as a journal, covers a wide range of subjects ranging from organic chemistry to chemical engineering and including aspects of analytical chemistry, pharmaceutics, and regulatory issues. We have been publishing special feature sections devoted to a wide range of subjects since 2000, and by the end of 2014, over 50 special features will have appeared. These features are often devoted to multidisciplinary topics and attract readers from a wider sphere than just process chemists and engineers, therefore broadening the readership of the journal. Crystallisation and Polymorphism is a topic dear to my heart and is a subject which I and my colleagues have taught to a wide range of companies over the past decade and a half; it has remained a hot topic in the pharmaceutical and other industries. However, the literature is spread over many journals, and it is a challenge for chemists and engineers to keep up to date. The special feature sections in OPRD provide an up-todate snapshot of current trends in both academia and industry in this fascinating area of science and technology. After successful features on Crystallisation and Polymorphism in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, and 2013, we now wish to continue the series with a similar feature in 2015. Authors are invited to submit their articles to the editorial office by April 30, 2015 for publication later that year. In particular I welcome review articles on any aspect of crystallisation and polymorphism, including issues such as solvation and hydration, cocrystals and amorphous solids, particle size control, monitoring crystallisations, and process analytical technologies associated with crystallisation processes. Papers on both batch and continuous crystallisations and the technologies associated with the latter would be appropriate for this feature. I would also like to invite process chemists and engineers to share problems associated with scale-up of crystallisations and how these problems were solved; these case studies, whilst initially appearing to be relevant to only one substance, can soon translate to other projects. Perspective articles, where authors may wish to sound out their provocative ideas to a discerning audience and raise discussions on current hot topics, are particularly welcome from experts in the field. This special feature section will be coordinated by myself and Sue Parsons initially, but of course we both plan to retire at the end of 2014, so some coordination with the new Editor-in-Chief and with Jaan Pesti will be necessary in 2015 to ensure a successful issue covering this important topic. Another hot topic is the issue of Potential Genotoxic Impurities. We last covered this subject in July/August 2010 when we had 14 papers; the date amazes me since it only seems like yesterdayhow time flies when you are enjoying yourself! This feature was coordinated by Andy Teasdale of Astra Zeneca (AZ), who now also writes the Regulatory Highlights for OPRD when he is not doing his AZ work or writing books (how does he find the time!). Despite these pressures, Andy has agreed to act as guest editor for a second special feature on this topic in 2015 (when you want something done, ask a busy
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person!); this is timely because of new regulatory guidance and also because ideas have moved on over the past few years. The issue of Potential Genotoxic Impurities has been the subject of several letters to the editor in the last year or two and has generated heated discussions on how to approach the regulatory needs and the analytical challenges associated with these needs. I hope that this discussion will continue, either in the next special feature or as letters to the editor. Contributions for this special feature are invited by the end of January 2015 for publication in the special issue in May or June 2015. Of course all articles that are approved by the editorial office (and where ACS has received corrected proofs) are published online as ASAP articles, usually within a couple of days of the receipt of the final proofs, but page numbers are not allocated until the special feature is collated in an issue of the journal. The timing of the appearance of the collected special section therefore depends on the speed and efficiency with which authors are able to get their contributions in final form. Please submit articles early and within the deadline, revise papers quickly, and read and correct proofs ASAP so as not to be the rate-determining step in this process. This helps the editors and ACS journal production immensely. 2015 promises to be a bumper year for special features with new topics such as peptides, ICH Q11 principles, and nonprecious metal catalysis, as well as repeats of hot topics such as continuous processing/flow chemistry, oxidation, and engineering contributions to process development. We also welcome review articles on any relevant topic but especially to extend our series “Large Scale Reviews” in which a particular chemical transformation is examined from the point of view of process chemistry and/or development and scale-up. The previous reviews on Carbonyl Reduction (Magnano, J.; Dunetz, J. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2012, 16 (6), 1156−1184) and Asymmetric and Diastereoselective Conjugate Additions (Howells, G. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2012, 16 (7), 1258−1272) have been extremely well-received and assist academics, students, and discovery chemists, as well as process chemists and engineers, in their choice of appropriate conditions for optimising reactions. The editors welcome any ideas and suggestions for future reviews in this series (more are already in preparation for 2014/5). I look forward to receiving manuscripts on all of these topics.
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Trevor Laird, Editor-in-Chief AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
Published: October 17, 2014 1155
dx.doi.org/10.1021/op500302j | Org. Process Res. Dev. 2014, 18, 1155−1155
