Kai Wang

This chapter analyzes pharmaceutical intermediates as the strategic link between basic feedstocks and APIs. It examines the evolution of synthetic methodologies, highlighting green synthesis, continuous flow chemistry, and biocatalysis as key approaches for process intensification. The text details purification strategies, contrasting traditional crystallization with advanced methods such as preparative chromatography and membrane separation. Furthermore, it emphasizes the "Quality by Design" (QbD) paradigm, integrating impurity profiling to ensure regulatory compliance. Exploring artificial intelligence-driven synthetic route planning and process automation, this work presents synthesis, purification, and quality control as an interdependent system essential for modern pharmaceutical engineering.

The conventional fabrication of antifogging polymer coatings such as zwitterionic or amphiphilic copolymers typically require multiple processes. In this work, a simple photocuring method was used to create a series of zwitterionic coatings containing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) without the need to prepare copolymer. Surface analysis demonstrated that the coating thickness was typically about 6 μm, and the surface POSS content showed a tendency of increasing with POSS. A wettability analysis demonstrated that zwitterionic coating with high POSS content held better water absorbing capability than that with low POSS content and without POSS. Furthermore, it was found that a high proportion of POSS contributed towards the enhancement of transmittance. The excellent antifogging properties of coatings with a high mass fraction of POSS can be ascribed to the aforementioned good wettability and transmittance. It is expected that zwitterionic coating via the simple incorporation of POSS can be utilized for practical application.

Al–air battery has been regarded as a promising new energy source. However, the self-corrosion of aluminum anode leads to a loss of battery capacity and a decrease in battery longevity, limiting its commercial applications. Herein, indole-2-carboxylic acid (ICA) has been added to 4 M NaOH as a corrosion inhibitor. Its impact on the self-corrosion of aluminum alloy and the enhancement of the functionality of Al–air batteries at various concentrations have been investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques have been used to examine the compositional and morphological alterations of aluminum alloy surfaces. Electrochemical and hydrogen evolution tests showed that indole-2-carboxylic acid is an efficient corrosion inhibitor in alkaline solutions, and its impact grows with concentration. Our findings demonstrated that when the inhibitor concentration is 0.07 M, the inhibition efficiency is 54.0%, the anode utilization rises from 40.2% to 79.9%, the capacity density increases from 1197.6 to 2380.9 mAh g⁻¹, and the energy density increases from 1469.9 to 2951.8 Wh kg⁻¹. In addition, theoretical calculations have been performed to support the experimental results.