SAFC Commercial, the custom manufacturing and services business unit of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, has entered into a collaborative technology agreement with BioTools Inc. The partnership aligns BioTools, a Jupiter, Florida-based manufacturer of advanced chiroptical spectroscopic instruments, with SAFC's leading solid-state research and development business, Pharmorphix. The combined offer provides customers direct access to the most comprehensive range of chiral structural determination tools and separation services in the market, potentially accelerating timelines to market for chiral-based drugs.

Pharmorphix solid state technologies contribute extensive expertise to the partnership in the application of powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction technology, including chiral structure determination of small molecules and enantioselective resolution services using crystallization and chromatography. BioTools brings insight and proficiency in the field of vibrational optical activity (VOA) and the use of its advanced instruments and software—ChiralIR-2X, ChiralRAMAN-2X, ComputeVOA and CompareVOA—that undertake the absolute configuration determination of chiral compounds required for regulatory IND submissions of pharmaceuticals.

"Our partnership with BioTools enables customers to approach a single service provider to get access to the highest levels of efficiency and confidence in structural determination, including the configuration of chiral structures," commented Dr Chris Frampton, chief scientific officer at SAFC's Pharmorphix Solid State Research Laboratories. "This extended range of structural and chiral separation solutions will play an important role in accelerating the drug discovery and development process."

"The alignment of knowledge, experienced staff, and advanced instrumentation and software creates a formidable force to effectively help researchers meet the complex challenges of chiral drug development," added BioTools president Dr. Rina Dukor.

Sigma-Aldrich, a leading life science and high-tech company focused on enhancing human health and safety, manufactures and distributes 230,000 chemicals, biochemicals and other essential products to more than 1.4 million customers globally in research and applied labs as well as in industrial and commercial markets.