Almac Sciences Shines the Light on Corning Collaboration

Getting to the HEART of continuous flow photochemical reactions

Craigavon, Northern Ireland – 6 December 2021 – Almac Sciences, a member of the Almac Group, has announced a technology collaboration with Corning Incorporated, one of the world’s leading innovators in materials science, to utilise Corning® Advanced-Flow™ Reactors (AFR) within Almac’s Technology Centre at its global Headquarters in Craigavon, NI. The collaboration will enhance Almac’s existing capabilities in photochemistry and will further unlock difficult-to-perform photooxidations in flow, which will build further development capacity for Almac Sciences global clients.

Compared to traditional batch reactors, Corning’s AFR technology is an inherently safer technology for the production of chemicals in the pharmaceutical, specialty and fine chemical industries. The technology is specially designed to enable the conversion from traditional batch to continuous flow chemical processing for lab to industrial-scale production. The core of AFR technology is Corning’s integrated fluidic module with its patented HEART design, which is meticulously engineered out of glass or silicon carbide materials to allow for rapid and seamless scale-up, as well as improved heat transfer and mass transfer (mixing).

Dr. Philippe Roth, Application Engineer, Corning Advanced-Flow Reactors, said, “Our collaboration with Almac Sciences allows us to support cutting-edge research and development activities in photooxidation and showcases further examples of how our equipment can be used successfully for such transformations.”

This collaboration will help to further enhance Almac’s technology platform and flow chemistry expertise, which has the potential to unlock new synthetic routes and strategies that are not always possible using conventional batch processing and that are often more cost effective, safer and better control the quality of the product.

Dr. Megan Smyth, Team Leader, Custom and Flow, Almac Sciences, commented, “We are excited by the opportunity to collaborate with the team at Corning as we develop photooxidations. We are keen to build upon our existing in-house expertise while continuing to expand the scope of our flow-technology platform.”