Catalyst screening and reaction optimisation services

Johnson Matthey is a leading provider of catalyst solutions for the life science industry and small molecule applications. In addition to providing a comprehensive portfolio of catalysts, we are dedicated to working with our customers in supporting their needs to identify the best performing catalyst. Our process optimisation and custom catalyst manufacturing capabilities further supports improving the efficiency of your application.

Catalyst screening and hit identification

Our team of technical experts along with our lab and supporting equipment can be leveraged to help you screen a wide variety of catalyst for your transformation. Our catalyst collection is made up of catalysts across technologies including:

Homogeneous catalysts
Heterogeneous catalysts
Chiral catalysts
Biocatalysts

How our catalyst screening collection is built

In addition to catalysts in our own portfolio, our collection also consists of everything that is commercially available, new catalysts we have developed, catalysts from academia, and new catalysts in literature.

Catalyst screening technical expertise

Our screening process starts with developing a project proposal to ensure the feasibility of your request along with providing clear targets and deliverables that match your project needs. Since our team has experience with processing challenges across industries and customers, we can address and solve common catalyst selection and optimisation issues.

Process understanding and reaction optimisation

The minimisation of catalyst loadings, as well as yield, selectivity, robustness, time, and volume efficiency are critical factors to deliver cost effective, sustainable, and scalable processes. During the catalyst optimisation phase, we identify optimal conditions, which includes reducing catalyst loadings, understanding catalyst deactivation or inhibition, verifying the robustness of the reaction vs variability of the feedstock, and controlling mass transfer factors. The optimal conditions are verified on laboratory scale (50 g to 1 kg) and can be tech transferred to the customer or any chosen CDMO.

Custom catalyst development and manufacturing

When off-the-shelf catalysts do not meet your performance requirements or if your chosen catalyst is not available at scale, you can work with our team to scale up your specific catalyst. We have dedicated R&D teams across all technologies that can support the development process.

We have the capabilities to produce either off-the-shelf catalysts at scale or you can work with us to produce a custom catalyst for your application. Our development and manufacturing capabilities include the following.

Development capabilities

Route selection
Lab-scale optimisation
Full process safety
From 100 mL to 5 L

Scale-up capabilities

Complex metal catalysts
Complex ligand synthesis
Handling pyrophoric and highly reactive reagents
Cryogenic conditions
High containment

Manufacturing capabilities

Mini pilot plant for volumes up to 100 L (5-15 kg batches)
Tech transfer to larger scale production facilities across the globe (UK, US, India)
Metal reclamation capabilities for larger scale projects

Transport

Energy

Chemicals

PGMs and circularity