PARTNER OF THALES NANOTECHNOLOGY, INC., COMGENEX, ANNOUNCES A RADICAL EXTENSION OF THE MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY SYNTHESIS SPACE BY INTRODUCING ROOM TEMPERATURE OZONOLYZIS IN ITS LABORATORY PRACTICE
January 17, 2006, Budapest, Hungary – ComGenex, Inc., a leading drug discovery service provider, disclosed today that it has successfully tested and completed the initial phase of the integration of the first ever continuous flow, bench top ozonolyzis unit into its high-throughput organic synthesis technology line. The O-Cube® is the newest member of the Cube-series developed by Thales Nanotechnology Inc., a former spin-out of ComGenex. This unique device utilizes proprietary technologies, including microfluidics and internal ozone generation in order to safely carry out a wide variety of organic transformations under pressure and even at room temperature. The shoe-box sized unit is fully portable and easy to use in small scale with individual compounds.
According to Dr. Ferenc Darvas, President and Chairman of Thales Nanotechnology, Inc., “We believe that the introduction of safe ozonolyzis into routine laboratory practice will significantly enlarge the toolkit of present-day medicinal chemists. The application of ozonolyzis, an important chemical transformation, has so far been seriously limited due to the high explosion risk and the low reaction temperature (typically -30 to -40 Celsius). Upon the positive laboratory results achieved at ComGenex, we strive to speed up the commercial launch of O-Cube®”.
Dr. László Ürge, CEO of ComGenex, Inc. commented, “ComGenex has tested this unit extensively and used it in the production of exclusive compound libraries. According to our experience, the device can create compounds that can not be synthesized by conventional batch technologies. Therefore, it will open new avenues in the field of medicinal chemistry and it will also contribute to the increase of the chemical diversity in compound libraries. It also provides great support to our ongoing medicinal chemistry projects. Once it is commercially available, we expect that, as with its predecessor the H-Cube®, it will revolutionize the way ozonolyzis is carried out in medicinal chemistry labs in the future.”
The H-Cube® hydrogenation device, the first member of Thales’ Cube-series, received the prestigious R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine in 2005.
About ComGenex, Inc.:
ComGenex is an integrated discovery service provider for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The company uniquely integrates innovative discovery related technologies including proprietary methods in the area of medicinal chemistry, instrumentation, high-throughput analytics, informatics and ADME. The company has a proven track record of successful collaborations with major pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology companies. For more information on ComGenex, visit http://www.comgenex.com
About Thales Nanotechnology, Inc.:
Thales Nanotechnology, Inc. is a company specialized in developing and providing microscale flow instruments for chemistry, by exploiting the benefits of micro- and mesofluidics in practical applications. Thales Nanotechnology, Inc. is widely recognized for its expertise in transforming chemical processes to microscale continuous flow operations and developing manual or robotical continuous micro-reactors for the industry.