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Academic-Industrial Collaborations: Merging Paths to Thrive
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A t a time when artificial intelligence dominates headlines
and new technologies emerge daily, personal interactions
fail to grab the attention that they once did. Bringing together
different thought processes to tackle challenges has long relied
on people cooperating and building upon each other’s
contributions�a synergy that the AI-enhanced world aims to
emulate but cannot replace. Academic and industrial
collaborations bring scientists together around a common
purpose to innovate and achieve beyond what our individual
efforts could accomplish. In honor of the growing trend toward
impactful collaborations between organic chemists in academia
and industry, Organic Letters has organized this Special Issue
“Organic Chemistry Driven by Academic-Industrial Collabo-
rations.”
Figure 1.
As the complexity of challenges increases, interdisciplinary
teams of scientists are required to find the solutions.
Traditionally, two of the biggest teams of organic chemists
have been divided when it comes to goals, research focus,
funding, culture, and timeframes. In industry, the goal tends to
be developing and selling profitable new products. Sometimes
this goal is driven by forces external to the scientific
development process, such as pressures from investors,
competitors, and consumers. Different, but not at odds with
that goal, is academia, the primary focus of which is to further
knowledge while training students and sharing data through
publications.
Research in industry is often laser-focused on practicality
and the reduction of ideas to commercial feasibility, while
Published 2024 by American Chemical
Society
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academic laboratories are more likely to be curiosity-driven
and do not shy away from fundamental research and
understanding. Regardless of your position on one of these
teams, funding is always a requirement to accomplish research
objectives. In academia, government grants, foundations, and
student fellowships often provide the monetary means to
pursue research, while in industry, it is typically paid for with
company funds. The competitive nature of companies and the
need for protecting intellectual property might at first seem at
odds with an academic culture that encourages the sharing of
knowledge through publications. However, many industrial
researchers still publish work once it has passed a certain
milestone where IP is no longer a concern. On the other end,
despite academic freedom and sharing of research being the
norm for universities, academic institutions now promote
patenting of inventions prior to publishing in scientific
journals.
While historically distinct, the lines between academic and
industrial teams of organic chemists have begun to converge,
further reducing barriers to collaborative work. Many
companies and academic institutions have realized this and
have started on a path to successfully collaborate. For example,
the Baran group at Scripps Research has extensive experience
with academic-industrial collaborations and provides details on
the symbiosis that can be achieved in such collaborations. In a
2015 Accounts of Chemical Research article, Baran points out
that industry historically funded academic research through
blanket agreements that gave them access to all discoveries.1
Today, this model has largely been replaced by project-specific
collaborations that align with both the interests of academia
and industry. Details about the Baran lab’s success with
mutually beneficial projects enabled academic advances such as
new methods and complex molecule syntheses while also
benefiting industry through improved chemical processes,
bioactive molecules for testing, and commercialization of new
reagents�a model for other academic groups.
Two specific examples are the scalable synthesis of
haouamine A, which provided material for Genentech to test
its bioactivity, and the ingenol synthesis that developed new
chemistry to enable LEO Pharma to make novel analogues.
Baran and coauthors present a compelling case that, with good
Special Issue: Organic Chemistry Driven by Academic-
Industrial Collaborations
Published: April 12, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.4c01107
Org. Lett. 2024, 26, 2669−2671
Organic Letters pubs.acs.org/OrgLett
management of expectations, timelines, and intellectual
property, project-based collaborations can be structured for
mutual success between academic and industry partners. When
done well, these result in a two-way transfer of knowledge and
hold the promise of moving beyond the one-sided industry
funding of academia to achieve the discussed symbiosis that
benefits both parties and the broader chemistry community.
In 2020, Schultz and Campeau, from Merck & Co., provided
a Nature Chemistry Comment on collaborative academic-
industry projects from a different perspective.2 The piece
emphasizes it is imperative that we bridge the academia-
industrial divide because of the urgent need for yet
undiscovered technologies and methods for pharmaceutical
applications. They present an artificial divide that has existed
where academic chemists focus on foundational breakthroughs
while industry scientists apply known methods to practical
problems. For example, certain cross-coupling reactions are
heavily used in drug discovery due to reliance on proven and
robust methods, while newly published reactions, even if more
advanced and efficient, often take decades to be widely
adopted in pharmaceutical laboratories. Collaborations can
help with the adoption and acceptance of new methods, as
Schultz and Campeau note with the rapid rise in the use of
photoredox catalysis in pharmaceutical research. They also
advocate for more direct problem-focused partnerships
between academia and industry to accelerate the incorporation
of fundamental science into therapeutic innovations.
Cole, Douglas, Hammerstad, and Stephenson, in a 2022
Perspective in Organic Process Research & Development,
highlight a 4.5 year academic-industrial collaboration between
pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Stephenson’s academic
lab focused on advancing visible-light photocatalysis.3 The
collaboration enabled Lilly to build internal expertise in and
infrastructure for photocatalysis, guided by knowledge from
Stephenson and his group. Lilly also gained valuable
experience on scaling up photochemical reactions and
processes. The joint projects resulted in several new academic
research directions for the Stephenson group. Tangible
outcomes of the collaboration include a photoredox Smiles
rearrangement, trifluoromethylations using TFAA, and the
construction of kilogram-scale flow reactors for photocatalytic
reactions, which is a testament to the commitment, openness,
and alignment of all involved. The Perspective points out some
remaining hurdles that can be addressed, such as improved
communication infrastructure, harmonizing systems across
sites, educating broader chemistry teams on both sides, and
selecting longer-term pharmaceutical projects.
Overall, strategic partnerships between industry and
academia can accelerate science, drive commercialization of
new innovations, provide growth opportunities for researchers
and students, and maximize the impact of investments in
research. Both sides stand to benefit significantly when the
partnerships are thoughtfully designed around shared goals and
values. There is tremendous opportunity to advance science
and technology through greater collaboration across sectors.
These advantages seem reason enough for both industry and
academic laboratories to join forces to solve challenging
problems. The incentive of government funding for such
partnerships is another plus. Many government agencies have
grant mechanisms designed for industry-academic partner-
ships: Two such examples are the NSF Grant Opportunities
for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program and the
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network
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Editorial
(MSCA ITN), InnoSuise. Additionally, some federal grants
give preference to proposals that include industry collaborators
who provide matching funds.
This Special Issue encompasses innovations in organic
chemistry resulting from collaborations between scientists in
academia and industry. Because of space considerations, we
cannot highlight all the articles within this editorial; however, a
sampling is discussed below. For instance, it is worth noting
advancements in automation that hold great value in industrial
settings, particularly for research groups dedicated to library
synthesis or reaction optimization via high-throughput
experimentation. To this end, Wanner and Synple Chem
colleagues working with Bode describe the development of
capsule-based Suzuki-Miyaura cross-couplings (DOI: 10.1021/
acs.orglett.3c01057). Flow chemistry, another emergent
technology in academic and industrial settings, is also
represented in manuscripts of synergistic nature. In this area,
Alcázar and team at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine,
formerly known as Janssen, working with Dixon and de la Hoz
developed an innovative, multistep flow method for deoxy-
genative C(sp3)-C(sp3) bond-formation from tertiary amides
and organozinc reagents (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01390).
This collaboration was supported by funding from the MSCA
ITN PhotoReact Project, an academic-industrial consortium
featured in a different Editorial in this Special Issue (DOI:
10.1021/acs.orglett.4c00192). A one-flow synthetic approach
to unsymmetrical sulfamides and N-substituted sulfamate
esters was developed by Fuse in collaboration with Mitsubishi.
Highlights of their collaboration involve the use of microflow
technology and construction of mathematical models to
understand the impact of the amine base in the yield and
purity profile of the reactions (DOI: 10.1021/acs.or-
glett.3c01546).
Photocatalysis is exemplified by the work of Fernández and
González-Esguevillas in a Pfizer collaboration with the
MacMillan group at Princeton University that reports a
versatile photoredox iterative strategy for the bifunctionaliza-
tion of aliphatic core rings (DOI: 10.1021/acs.or-
glett.3c00994). Hart et al. at MPI Dortmund, in collaboration
with AstraZeneca, applied a photochemical-decarboxylative-
arylation to solid-phase peptide synthesis (DOI: 10.1021/acs.
orglett.3c03070). Sparr at University of Basel and Hamdan
from Syngenta report an amidation protocol of oxamic acids
with aryl bromides via a photoredox decarboxylative nickel-
catalyzed aminocarbonylation (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.
3c02389). Biocatalysis, another rising powerful technology in
organic synthesis, is reported in the collaborative work by
Lipshutz at UC Santa Barbara and Takeda that describes the
influence of nonionic surfactants on IRED-catalyzed imine
reductions, featuring efficient tandem chemoenzymatic se-
quences in water (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c02790). Using
water as a reaction medium is also exemplified by the
collaborative work between TCG GreenChem and the
University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Senanayake, Qu,
Shada, and co-workers developed a new class of water-soluble
benzooxaphosphole-based ligands to enable palladium-cata-
lyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions of sterically hindered
substrates (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01663).
In the field of electrochemistry, Kim and Kwak at
POSTECH and KRICT report the electroreductive synthesis
of 1,2-aminoalcohols via cross aza-pinacol coupling (DOI: 10.
1021/acs.orglett.3c01543). An electrochemical synthesis of S-
aryl dibenzothiophenium triflates, viable precursors to fluorine-
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.4c01107
Org. Lett. 2024, 26, 2669−2671
Organic Letters pubs.acs.org/OrgLett
labeled compounds, is described by Waldvogel at the
University of Mainz and a team at Abbvie (DOI: 10.1021/
acs.orglett.3c02921). The deoxyfluorination of hindered
carbon centers with collidinium tetrafluoroborate and a
supporting electrolyte is disclosed by the Lam group at the
University of Greenwich and GlaxoSmithKline, where tertiary
alcohols, activated as hemioxalate ammonium salts, lead to the
formation of a wide range of tertiary fluorides (DOI: 10.1021/
acs.orglett.3c00976).
Another topic of growing interest for both academic and
industrial sectors that has resulted in many collaborations is
the replacement of precious metals with earth-abundant
transition metals.4 Chirik along with researchers at Biohaven,
as part of the Princeton Catalysis Initiative,report a highly
enantioselective hydrogenation of indazole-containing enam-
ides using cobalt catalysis. This method was applied to the
synthesis of the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)
receptor antagonist, zavegepant, approved for the treatment
of migraines (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01364). Khan et al.
from Xi’an Jiao Tong University describe the use of
molybdenum complexes with a chiral Schiff base ligand as
catalysts in the enantioselective amination of allylic carbo-
nates�a transformation generally dominated by precious
transition-metal catalysts. This catalytic approach was used to
access drug-like molecules, exemplified by (S)-clopidogrel
(DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01641). A regioselective and
enantiospecific strategy for the synthesis of α-CF3-β-arylethyl-
amines is described by the Kozlowski group at the University
of Pennsylvania and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals,
enabling CF3-aziridine opening with aryl or pyridyl Grignard
nucleophiles using substoichiometric amounts of copper in the
presence of LiCl. Notably, the researchers applied this efficient
method to access an CF3-dihydroazaindole in a one-pot
strategy (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01122).
The development of new fluorinating agents is highlighted in
the collaborative work between Shen at Shanghai Institute of
Organic Chemistry and a team at Syngenta that describes the
preparation of a well-defined argentate nBu4N+[AgI(CF3)2]−
from fluoroform and its use in the preparation of
trifluoromethylated (hetero)arenes from heteroaryl diazonium
salts (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c02804). In addition, new C-
H functionalization approaches are highlighted by the
collaborative work between Yu at Scripps Research and Pfizer,
who report the synthesis of highly substituted amino-
tetrahydropyrans via sequential C-H functionalizations (DOI:
10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01439). Moreover, as a result of an
́
innovative collaboration between Martin-Matute at Stockholm
University and AstraZeneca focused on the synthesis of aryl
halides, a selective C-H iodination of Weinreb amides and
benzamides through Ir(III)-catalysis is described in both
solution and mechanochemical modes (DOI: 10.1021/acs.
orglett.3c03190).
Advances in DNA conjugate synthesis are demonstrated by
Niu and Zhang at Sichuan University and HitGen Inc., who
report a photochemical approach to the synthesis of
carbohydrate-DNA conjugates via a redox-neutral radical
addition (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c00833). Furthermore,
Lu and Wang at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica describe
the development of highly efficient protocols for on-DNA
macrocyclic peptide synthesis thus enabling the construction of
DNA encoded libraries while maintaining DNA integrity
(DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c01817).
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Editorial
This Special Issue also includes three Editorials around
academic-industrial consortia to accelerate drug discovery and
development (DOI: 10.1021/acs.orglett.4c00192), communi-
cation and outreach through chemistry podcasts (DOI:
10.1021/acs.orglett.3c04181), and career transitions from
academia to industry and vice versa (DOI: 10.1021/
acs.orglett.4c01099).
The large number of submissions to this Special Issue on
“Organic Chemistry Driven by Academic-Industrial Collabo-
rations” is diverse both geographically and in terms of content.
Together with the growing number of high-profile collabo-
rations between academia and industry in other scientific
journals, it is clear that future impactful discoveries in organic
chemistry will continue to arise from these types of
collaborative efforts. Inevitably, industrial projects will shape
the direction of academic chemists going forward, and
academia will directly impact the types of problems that can
be solved by industrial chemists in the near future. However,
many questions remain. How will the nature of these
collaborations impact the career trajectories of chemistry
professors? Will funding agencies value the impact and
innovation of collaborations even if some results are protected
by intellectual property laws? Will the model for funding these
types of projects need to evolve? Will graduate schools need to
update course curricula to reflect these new scientific
partnerships? Despite these many unknowns, the future of
organic chemistry collaborations between academia and
industry is bright, with the ultimate benefits to be realized
by all of humanity.
Hongli Bao orcid.org/0000-0003-1030-5089
Karla Bravo-Altamirano orcid.org/0009-0009-3578-403X
Zachary Buchan
Pablo J. Cabrera
Sarah J. Ryan orcid.org/0000-0002-9633-5299
Joshua J. Roth
Fernando Sartillo-Piscil orcid.org/0000-0002-4322-7534
Yasuhiro Sawai orcid.org/0000-0002-6722-2068
Uttam K. Tambar orcid.org/0000-0001-5659-5355
Cayetana Zarate orcid.org/0000-0002-4002-6147
■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Complete contact information is available at:
https://pubs.acs.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.4c01107
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and
not necessarily the views of the ACS.
■ REFERENCES
(1) Michaudel, Q.; Ishihara, Y.; Baran, P. S. Academia−Industry
Symbiosis in Organic Chemistry. Acc. Chem. Res. 2015, 48, 712−721.
(2) Schultz, D.; Campeau, L.-C. Harder, better, faster. Nat. Chem.
2020, 12, 661−664.
(3) Cole, K. P.; Douglas, J. J.; Hammerstad, T.; Stephenson, C. R. J.
Visible-Light Photocatalysis Academic−Industrial Collaboration
Retrospective: Shared Learning and Impact Analysis. Org. Process.
Res. Dev. 2023, 27, 399−408.
(4) Chirik, P. J.; Engle, K. N.; Simmons, E. M.; Wisniewski, S. R.
Collaboration as a Key to Advance Capabilities for Earth-Abundant
Metal Catalysis. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2023, 27, 1160−1184.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.4c01107
Org. Lett. 2024, 26, 2669−2671