Winter Newsletter 2011
Q & A with Albert Lee, Ph.D.
This issue features the leader of our custom synthesis group, Albert Lee, Ph.D.
Q. What is your role at Chemir?
A. My title is Senior Scientist, in a typical day I might be discussing potential new projects with clients, designing synthesis routes, issuing proposals, brain storming with the bench chemists trying to solve a particular problem, discussing results with clients or every now and then I manage to spend some time at the lab bench.
Q. Why did you become a synthetic organic chemist?
A. I really enjoyed the lab portion of sophomore organic chemistry. I don’t remember the specifics, but I remember my fascination with running organic reactions: take two oils, mix them in a solvent, heat it up and upon cooling crystals grew. It was magic and I was hooked. Beyond that, I recognized the possibilities for making new, interesting molecules from basic starting materials and this is what I wanted to do.
Q. How did your group become a part of Chemir?
A. It’s been a long and winding road. The custom synthesis group started out as Gateway Chemical Technology back in 1995. We started out as four organic chemists who were downsized out of a start-up pharmaceutical company that was trying to develop a perfluorocarbon emulsion based blood substitute. We made it through Phase 1 clinical trials when the money ran out. We sub-leased the empty labs, brought in synthesis projects and grew to a steady $2MM/year business before we were acquired by Chemir. We remained at our original location as we were rebranded as iQSynthesis in 2007 and finally made the 2 mile move to Chemir’s location in 2010.
Q. Tell us about an interesting project.
A. A client was in the late stages of a NDA filing and their API producer had 5 process related impurities, which exceeded permissible amounts, in their production batches. These impurities were known compounds (DEA Schedule I and II), however, reliable procedures for their synthesis did not appear in the literature. Each of the impurities had from 5 to 7 functional groups present which made each target a synthetic challenge by itself. The team at Chemir developed synthetic procedures for all 5 impurities and prepared sufficient quantities for the client to perform toxicology studies and accomplished the synthesis against an aggressive timeline.
Q. What’s your favorite molecule & why?
A. Ibuprofen. See below.
Q. What do you like to do for fun?
A. Alpine skiing – I’ve heard it described as “dancing with the mountain, with gravity leading the way.” I’m not graceful enough to fit that description, see above.
