SE4:E8: From Discovery to Process, Part 2: Getting Ugi with it - scaling a 3CL protease inhibitor

<p>In <strong>Part 2</strong> of our <em>Pharm to Table</em> deep dive on MK‑7845, Dani and LC shift from invention to implementation, welcoming process chemists Nastaran Salehi Marzijarani and Ben Turnbull to the pod. We explore how the team re‑imagined the synthesis to enable robust, scalable supply—and why a classic multicomponent reaction you probably remember from school, the <strong>Joullié–Ugi reaction</strong>, ended up stealing the show. Along the way, we unpack route selection trade‑offs, lifecycle thinking in process chemistry, and what it really takes to bring an antiviral to life at scale. </p><p><strong>Read and listen to some of the papers we discussed today:</strong></p><p><a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.orglett.5c03920" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><em>Asymmetric Synthesis of MK-7845, an Investigational Treatment for COVID-19</em> - <em>Org. Lett.</em></a></p><p>Part 1 of MK-7845 series: <a href="https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/IFwc7TGWD1b" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">SE4:E7: From Discovery to Process, Part 1: Building a 3CL Protease Inhibitor Through Smart Fluorine Placement and Design Intuition</a></p><p><br></p><p>Follow the Pharm to Table podcast on X - ⁠⁠⁠⁠@PharmtoTablePod</p><p>⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit our website at <a href="⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pharm-to-table">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pharm-to-table⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a> </p><p></p>