London BioScience Innovation Centre
2 Royal College Street, London NW1 0NH
Small molecule custom synthesis
Our synthetic chemistry team designs and executes multi-step routes to complex organic molecules — applying green chemistry principles throughout to minimise waste, maximise atom efficiency, and deliver compounds of the highest analytical quality. From single-step derivatisations to complex chiral routes, we provide a full service from route design through to delivery with complete documentation.
Multi-step total synthesis
Routes up to 15+ synthetic steps with full intermediate isolation and characterisation. Protecting group strategies, functional group interconversions, and convergent approaches employed as required.
Stereoselective & chiral synthesis
Asymmetric synthesis using chiral auxiliaries, organocatalysts, and transition-metal catalysts. Enantiopurity confirmed by chiral HPLC and optical rotation. ee routinely ≥99% achievable.
Heterocyclic chemistry
Synthesis of nitrogen-, oxygen-, and sulphur-containing heterocycles — pyrimidines, imidazoles, oxazoles, thiophenes, and fused ring systems central to pharmaceutical drug design.
Cross-coupling reactions
Palladium-, copper-, and nickel-catalysed cross-coupling reactions — Suzuki-Miyaura, Buchwald-Hartwig, Sonogashira, Negishi. Optimised for minimal metal residue in final product.
Scale-up & process chemistry
Routes developed at milligram scale are optimised for kilogram production — identifying bottlenecks, improving yields, substituting hazardous reagents, and reducing process mass intensity.
Reference standards & impurity profiling
Synthesis of authenticated reference standards and potential degradation products for regulatory submissions — HPLC purity ≥99.5% with full mass, NMR, and IR characterisation.
Scale range
1 mg exploratory through to multi-kilogram commercial. Pilot scale (100 g – 1 kg) available for process validation.
Purity standards
Routine ≥98% by HPLC. Reference standards ≥99.5%. Enantiopurity ≥99% ee by chiral HPLC available.
Reaction temperature range
−78°C cryogenic chemistry through to high-temperature sealed-vessel reactions. Microwave synthesis available.
Analytical characterisation
¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, HPLC-DAD, HRMS/LRMS, IR, optical rotation. Full batch CoA and SDS supplied.
Green chemistry metrics
PMI, E-factor, and atom economy calculated for every project. Solvent selection guided by GSK/CHEM21 solvent guides.
Turnaround
Route proposal within 48 hours of enquiry. Typical project timeline 2–8 weeks depending on complexity and scale.
| Compound class | Examples | Scale delivered | Typical purity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amino acid derivatives | Fmoc-AA-OH, N-Me amino acids, β-amino acids | mg – kg | ≥99% |
| Chiral building blocks | Chiral diols, amino alcohols, epoxides, lactams | mg – 100 g | ≥99% ee |
| Heterocycles | Pyrimidines, oxazoles, triazoles, benzimidazoles | mg – kg | ≥98% |
| Fluorinated compounds | ArF, CF₃, DAST fluorinations, perfluoroalkyl chains | mg – 100 g | ≥98% |
| Pharmaceutical KSMs | API intermediates, key starting materials | g – kg | ≥99% |
| Reference standards | ICH-grade impurities, metabolites, degradation products | mg – g | ≥99.5% |
Send us your target molecule, required quantity, and timeline — we’ll respond with a route proposal within 48 hours.