Patent ID: 7022841

Claim:
A process for reducing the levels of organic solvents in a crystalline carbapenem to pharmaceutically acceptable levels, comprising washing the crystalline carbapenem containing organic solvent with an organic solvent containing water to produce a washed carbapenem solid containing residual organic solvent; wherein throughout the washing the water content of the crystalline carbapenem solids, correcting for residual organic solvents, is maintained at about 13% to about 25% and evaporating the residual organic solvent in the washed carbapenem solid using vacuum and/or inert gas at low temperature to produce a crystalline carbapenem solid containing pharmaceutically acceptable levels of residual organic solvents, wherein the water content of the crystalline carbapenem solids throughout evaporation, correcting for residual organic solvents, is maintained at about 13% to about 25%, wherein the organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, isopropyl acetate, acetone, and methyl ethyl ketone or mixture thereof and the organic solvent containing water is selected from the group consisting of methyl acetate, acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, and acetone or a mixture thereof.