PROCEDURE FOR THE PREPARATION OF CITALOPRAM RACEMICO AND / OR CITALOPRAM-S OR -R BY SEPARATION OF A MIXTURE OF CITALOPRAM-R AND -S.

摘要

A process for the preparation of a racemic citalopram free base or an acid addition salt thereof and / or citalopram-R or -S as a free base or an acid addition salt thereof by separating a mixture of citalopram-R and -S with more than 50% of one of the enantiomers in a fraction consisting of racemic citalopram and a fraction of citalopram-S or citalopram-R characterized in that: i) citalopram is precipitated from a solvent as a free base or as a salt of acid addition thereof; ii) the precipitate formed is separated from the mother liquor; iia) if the precipitate is crystalline, it is optionally recrystallized one or more times to form racemic citalopram and then optionally converted into an acid addition salt thereof. iib) if the precipitate is not crystalline, steps i) and ii) are optionally repeated until a crystalline precipitate is obtained and this crystalline precipitate is optionally recrystallized one or more times to form racemic citalopram and then optionally converted into a salt of acid addition thereof.