The technology-driven world we live in seems to become more complex, more quickly, with every passing day. At a systems level, higher education has responded to the needs of a complex world by promoting specialism, and encouraging deep-dive learning in relatively narrow fields. Specialist expertise is to be valued, but developing the new sustainable processes

If you are working in industry and are responsible for safety, how do you safely scale up a given chemical reaction? How do you tackle issues like heat transfer, gas release, exposure control, waste stream issues and more? The core of any process safety study is a correct description of both heat and gas release

Last week I was in Madrid running our chemical development and scale up course. I met a great group of people, one of whom worked at Dynamit Nobel. During a coffee break we struck up a conversation about (of all things) azides, in particular sodium azide. Fairly quickly we both discovered that we had no

Several weeks ago I did my annual analysis of the synthetic routes used to prepare small molecule drugs approved by the FDA in the preceding year, obviously in this case 2022.1 I  hope those of you who have seen the presentation found it as interesting to watch as I found to put it together. One

Many organic impurities, such as nitrosamines, are known to be harmful to human health. Therefore, regulatory bodies and government set strict limits to protect us all. Even in small quantities, pharmaceutical impurities can have serious negative health impacts and influence the behaviour and efficacy of a drug. Organic impurities fall into a number of categories.

We spoke to chemists at different stages of their careers about their experiences of attending our ‘Chemical Development and Scale Up in the Fine Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries’ training course. Ben Littler  Ben told us that he had taken the ‘Chem Dev’ course twice as an early career process chemist!  Both courses were held as

What an experience to treasure! Claire and Hannah from Scientific Update Ltd were invited to travel on the beautiful British Pullman last week, for a specially hosted event ‘Golden Age of Travel with The Netherlands’. Passengers were encouraged to dress up in 1920’s costume and it certainly was a rather glamorous and special occasion. Everyone enjoyed fine

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Her Majesty The Queen. She has been a constant in our lives and the only monarch we have known.  We would like to thank her for her dedicated service to her country and the Commonwealth for 70 years and send our heartfelt condolences to all

Our ‘Young Chemist Award’ – This competition helps young PhD chemists reach out to a wider industrial audience and gain recognition for their work. It can also help boost confidence as each finalist gets to present their work in a short presentation. Being selected as a finalist and getting the opportunity to present is in

  CIA Awards Dinner Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, 16th June https://www.cia.org.uk/ciaawards/Awards Our Events Director Hannah May enjoyed a fantastic evening at the CIA Awards Dinner in Leeds last week. Hannah was delighted to meet so many young chemists and felt truly invigorated and inspired by their enthusiasm for their work. She said that she wanted