Reaxys Resources
The challenges of creating new antibacterials
What are the difficulties of designing antibacterial drugs? This exclusive article examines five antibiotic discovery programs to shed light on the challenges and possible solutions.
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Reaxys for the chemicals industry
In these case studies and customer interviews, research chemists discuss how they need accurate and valid inorganic, organometallic and organic compound data for the development of new materials and chemicals. Successful commercialization is their goal, and Reaxys gives our customers a distinct advantage in the highly competitive chemicals industry.
Customer interviews
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"I find Reaxys useful because we can look at reactions and then find the catalysts that are most suitable for that reaction. Heterogeneous catalysts can't be described by a simple formula. The possibility to search by reaction and find catalysts is a great advantage."
Dr. Peter Witte, a research chemist in the BASF Functional Materials & Solutions division, describes his group's work on catalysts and speaks about how Reaxys helps them in discovering new synthesis pathways to optimize catalyst preparation.
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"Good, broad coverage is exactly what is needed for our business, as we cover so many different project types. But you need to have the detail behind it. The usability, accessibility, and depth of information in Reaxys are all very, very high."
Dr. John Parks, director of R&D Fine Chemistry at Albemarle Corporation, states that his team relies on Reaxys to find optimized synthetic routes and avoid 'dead-end' work with inefficient pathways and high-cost reactants.
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"We use Reaxys to look at individual compounds in detail – it extracts chemical identifiers, chemical properties and structures, so when our researchers search for a compound, they immediately find it without having to read full journal articles."
Ernie Cote, CEO of Chemical Information Services, wants to ensure that his company's clients always have accurate and up-to-date chemical supplier data. Reaxys is a critical part of his research team's work.
Case study
"Supported by the information we obtained from Reaxys, my team and I were able to propose a synthesis route that was interesting and innovative, starting from inexpensive raw materials and avoiding transition metal catalysis."
Dr. Jan Haller, a project manager in the Chemical Development Group at Novasep, discusses how his team used Reaxys data to convince a potential client of the strong likelihood of a successful and cost-effective outcome to their proposed synthesis route.
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Reaxys for the pharmaceuticals industry
In these case studies and customer interviews, researchers involved in drug development discuss the importance of accurate chemical reaction and bioactivity data in the validation of lead candidates and development of commercially viable synthesis routes. In the quest to develop new drugs, Reaxys and Reaxys Medicinal Chemistry give researchers a distinct advantage.
Customer interviews
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"Finding the right routes means that we avoid wasting time on unproductive routes. Another important thing for us is that Reaxys is better for finding older synthetic chemistry information than any other product we've tried."
Dr. Gary Allred, president of Synthonix, describes his researchers' experience with Reaxys and Reaxys Medicinal Chemistry and how the older data and support for synthesis method assessment is so invaluable to drug development
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"Our process research services focus on the development of efficient production processes for selected drug candidates. Reaxys helps our chemists to be more creative and efficient in the lab and thus provide a higher output to our clients."
Dr. Tommi Meulemans, project manager in Merachem's Organic Synthesis group, is concerned with finding innovative, cost-effective and time-efficient ways to deliver on customer requests. Reaxys has the data to help his team develop optimal synthesis routes and maintain stringent quality control.
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"Reaxys can quickly lead you to a practical starting point. If you can't find the exact compound, you just search for similar sequences of reactions to get to the target compounds."
Takahashi Nakai, a medicinal chemist at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, describes how Reaxys supports him with a multitude of tasks: SAR analyses, target identification, synthesis route planning, and compound characterization.
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"[Reaxys and Reaxys Medicinal Chemistry] are really well suited to lead identification and validation. The medicinal chemistry data is really useful when we're scoping out the interactions between a target class and similar compounds to our leads."
Dr. Bel Mekonnen is the CEO of the start-up drug discovery organization Hager Biosciences, which is focused on the development of lead compounds for unmet medical needs. In this interview, he discusses how drug developer's data needs have changed, and how Reaxys fits their current requirements.
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Reaxys for education and academic research
More and more educational institutions have recognized the importance of introducing their students to research informatics solutions early. In these case studies and customer interviews, academics discuss how they use Reaxys in modern chemistry education programs and for their own research projects.
Customer interviews
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"Reaxys bolsters the chemical literacy of our students. Including it in the undergraduate program is the smart thing to do. We're giving our undergraduates a head start by teaching the skills they'll need to succeed when they go on to further study."
Professor Forest Robertson of Western Connecticut State University describes how he uses Reaxys in his organic chemistry courses and discusses the importance of early introduction to such solutions.
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"All of my students, especially those who have a synthetic chemistry major, need to be able to use tools like Reaxys. It is essential for researchers to be proficient with informatics tools. Reaxys in particular is important because of its focus on facts."
Professor Keiji Hirose of Osaka University believes that research informatics solutions cannot be neglected in chemistry education. He speaks about his use of Reaxys with seniors and post-graduates and in his own research.
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"I use Reaxys with my 4th and 5th year undergraduates to illustrate the principles of research. It helps to prepare them for postgraduate study or work."
Professor Fabrizio Fabris of the University of Venice discusses his own research workflows and how his students work with research informatics solutions in this interview.
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"Students need to appreciate such software as the gateway to the extensive synthetic research efforts that have been done globally. At the end of the course, everybody should have a feeling about what's out there and how challenging it can be to make new molecules."
Dr. Maikel Wijtmans of the VU University Amsterdam uses Reaxys in his courses because he wants students to appreciate the breadth of synthetic literature and have the skills to use such tools successfully in their later careers.
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Spotlight on chemistry research informatics
In these exclusive articles, we take a closer look at the development and potential of chemistry research informatics.
From Library Stacks to Complex Online Searches
The early 1800s saw an explosion in research, resulting in the first attempts at organizing scientific data. From books and journals to 20th century card catalogs and microforms to today's computer databases, chemistry information management systems have had an impressive evolution. This article looks at that development and asks what the next step might be.
Ideas Without Boundaries
The process of searching and integrating information has been transformed by electronic databases and management systems. Leading to each development in chemoinformatics that has made research more systematic and manageable is an unfettered creativity that incubates new ideas. We interviewed Dr. Jürgen Swiety-Busch, Director of Product Management for Chemistry at Elsevier, to gain insight into the innovation process and how such new ideas become reality.
Behind the Database
The Reaxys development team focused considerable time and effort into the development of ReaxysTree and Ask Reaxys. Their 30 months of development work have created a new window into the space of chemistry. We spoke to members of the development team to discover what lies behind the Reaxys interface and how these new features give users access to a vast wealth of information.
Enabling Information Discovery
Some researchers prefer structure and compound searches for finding relevant reaction and substance data. Others prefer natural language searches. Until now, both types of researcher were missing the full picture. Discover how the Reaxys development team has worked to give researchers the ability to retrieve both datasets, revealing relevant information and fostering new discoveries.
The Perfect Balance
Large hit sets from chemistry searches may seem advantageous, but the quality and specificity of results is as important as their quantity. To effectively support chemists in all disciplines, it is necessary to have intelligent information systems that offer flexible search and present data in a way that is relevant to the questions being asked. Dr. Jürgen Swiety-Busch, Director of Product Management for Chemistry at Elsevier, describes how his team works to strike this balance.