New Argonaut Units Apply Parallel Reactions to Chemical R&D
Running reactions simultaneously has the potential to reduce manufacturing costs, increase margins, and reduce hazardous wastes; it also may help a developer to claim broader patent coverage. The new Argonaut instrument allows process chemists to run 10 simultaneous reactions, each with automated, independently-controlled temperature, reaction time, solvent and reagent delivery, and other reaction conditions. Also integrated into the instrument is the ability to automate sample collection from the reaction mixtures at specified intervals, then quenching the reaction and injecting the samples into an HPLC for analysis without any manual intervention.
"The goal of process optimization is to produce a large amount of reliable data over a number of variables," said Mary Jo Wojtusik, product manager for the Surveyor in an Argonaut press release. "This is very difficult and time-consuming to do manually. Surveyor automates these tasks to produce not only more data in less time, but also more consistent and reproducible data for analysis."
The Surveyor system was developed by Argonaut as part of a consortium with other companies that paid a fee to get early access to the technology. These collaborators provided Argonaut with insight into problems encountered during process development and feedback on product prototypes throughout the development process. Consortium members are Pfizer Inc., Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly & Co., and Rohm & Haas Co. Inc.
For more information, contact Elizabeth Mitchell, director of administration for Argonaut Technologies, at 650-598-1350 or emitchell@argotech.com.