Lab Module Aims to Make Parallel Synthesis Easier

With organic chemists under pressure to boost their productivity, laboratory equipment makers are serving up a plentiful supply of tools to accomplish this end. The latest supplier to address the issue is Argonaut Technologies (San Carlos, CA), which has just begun shipping a laboratory module that enables research chemists to quickly incorporate parallel synthesis into their daily workflow. Dubbed FirstMate, the unit is billed as "the simplest method for synthesizing a small series of compounds in parallel without giving up the high quality, robustness, and flexibility of traditional benchtop organic synthesis."

According to Argonaut, the FirstMate module works with standard laboratory glassware, using test tubes as reaction vessels and incorporating adapters to attach reflux condensers, separatory funnels, dropping funnels, and other equipment to the top of each vessel. It is also said to be require little formal training to use. Cooling of reaction vessels can be done by immersing the unit in a dry ice/acetone bath; heating is accomplished by use of a standard laboratory hotplate. The entire unit provides vertical agitation, if needed, even while vessels are being heated or cooled. The module's glass reaction vessels are transparent and individually accessible, which reduces the "black box" perception of working with closed reaction blocks. And the entire unit, says Argonaut, is compact enough to fit in a drawer.

Argonaut specializes in instruments, chemical resins, and reagents for parallel solution-phase and solid-phase organic synthesis. The firm's products are used in chemistry development, library synthesis, lead optimization, and process development.

Edited by Gordon Graff