CHAPTER 16: Palladium Detection Techniques for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Prepared via Cross-Couplings

The products of palladium-catalyzed reactions, even after purification, can contain palladium above acceptable levels. In the pharmaceutical industry, extensive resources and time are devoted to the removal and quantify the metal in the products. Fluorimetric and colorimetric methods can provide a faster and more inexpensive means than currently used techniques to detect palladium after palladium-catalyzed reactions. This chapter discusses fluorimetric and colorimetric methods for the detection of palladium species. Most methods exploit palladium catalysis to generate fluorescent molecules from non-fluorescent starting materials. These fluorimetric methods enable users to detect and often quantify palladium species by correlating fluorescent intensities and palladium concentrations. A method implemented at a pharmaceutical company is discussed in detail.