Heritage

1978

JM was instrumental in developing and manufacturing cisplatin, an essential chemotherapy medication.

Difficult to manufacture, hazardous, potent and highly regulated complex chemicals require specialist skills to be produced safely, reliably and efficiently. To do this we call on our analytical and synthetic expertise and process engineering capabilities.

What is chemical synthesis?

Chemical synthesis simply refers to the production of complex chemical molecules from commercially available building blocks such as simple molecules removed from oil and gas or larger molecules isolated from plants and animals. This synthesis can involve many challenging and complicated steps to produce a final product.

Wide ranging synthetic expertise


Our expertise in chemical synthesis covers organic, inorganic and organometallic compounds, including enzymes, commodity chemicals and catalysts. These chemicals and processes are used in a wide range of applications from pharmaceuticals to pesticides. Our skills mean we can design, develop and scale up manufacture of these materials from laboratory to bulk scale, while never compromising on quality or safety. We use process and engineering modelling with statistical analysis to understand potential vulnerabilities in a process and define how to mitigate these and develop reliable routes to manufacture products at defined specifications.

In the area of active pharmaceutical ingredients, our knowledge of organic chemistry, and process development enables customers to meet stringent and regulated industry requirements. With our expertise in analytical techniques, process design, computational modelling and purification, we develop safe, reliable manufacturing routes for complex catalysts, working with our customers to develop products that meet their specifications, for catalytic applications from pharmaceuticals to fuel cells.

 

Emphasis on safety


With our experience in handling sensitising platinum group metals compounds, where exposure over time can lead to inflammatory allergic reactions on any future exposure, in our catalysis businesses, we understand how to embed safety procedures into all our synthesis processes. This applies to all our chemical synthesis capabilities, whether that’s handling toxic and sensitising metals that go into in our organometallic products, storing potent active pharmaceutical end products, or coping with corrosive acids and bases used in our synthetic steps.

Having expertise in refining and emission control means we're also well placed to safely control any potentially hazardous emissions or effluent from the manufacturing route, relieving our customers of this important aspect for safe production.