Patent 7208622 was granted and assigned to AJINOMOTO CO., INC. on April, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
There is provided methods for producing nateglinide crystals, which comprises the steps of adding an acid(s) to a reaction mixture containing nateglinide to make it acidic, the reaction mixture being obtained by reacting trans-4-isopropylcyclohexylcarbonyl chloride with D-phenylalanine in a mixed solvent of ketone solvent and water in the presence of an alkali; and then adjusting the temperature of the mixture to 58° C. to 72° C. and the concentration of ketone solvent to more than 8 wt % and less than 22 wt % to conduct precipitation of nateglinide crystals. This producing method is the industrially beneficial methods for crystallization of nateglinide.