Combinatorial Chemistry Platform
The so-called “high throughput technologies” are nowadays common tools to accelerate the discovery of novel active principles in various disciplines. Combinatorial chemistry, or more appropriately of “high throughput synthesis”, can be defined as a platform to accelerate the synthesis of “libraries” of compounds to be used to fish out actives for pharmaceutical, diagnostic, catalytic or new material applications.
Research Activities
The combinatorial approach to chemical synthesis requires both competence and experience, together with the presence of an integrated platform of equipment and laboratories. With regard to synthesis, an excellent knowledge of the reactivity of synthetic and natural compounds and reagents is crucial; the deep understanding of synthetic methodologies in solution and on solid phase; the availability of fully or partially automated instrumentation for parallel synthesis of tens or hundreds of compounds. As for characterization, the most common analytical techniques (i.e., NMR, MS, HPLC) must be available in an automated version, such as automated HPLC-MS systems and autosampler-equipped NMR spectrometers; both must be equipped with analytical software able to evaluate and determine rapidly the quality and the purity of a chemical library as a whole and of each one of its components. As for purification, the high throughput work-up and purification of library individuals requires the presence of fully or partially automated instrumentation, such as preparative HPLCs with multiple detection systems (UV, MS, ELS, etc.).
The above mentioned competencies and instrumentation are rarely found as an integrated platform in a single research group. They are all available at the high throughput lab at the CISI and thus allow the use of combinatorial approaches to further projects related, among others, to pharmaceutical, diagnostic, veterinary, agricultural, catalytic and new materials applications.
Scientific Director
Prof. Pierfausto Seneci got his doctorate in Chemistry at the Universita' degli Studi di Pavia, Italy in 1983 (110/110, magna cum laude). In the following years he worked for Pierrel in Milan, for Marion Merrell Dow in Gerenzano (Lepetit), in Strasbourg (France, Merrell) and in Tucson (USA, Selectide). He moved then to SmithKline Beecham France first in Rennes, France, and then to GlaxoWellcome in Verona as a Lead Discovery Director. He then founded the biotech NADAG AG, then renamed Sirenade Pharmaceuticals, in Munich and acted as a CSO and CEO for the company. His main interest was in antibacterials, antivirals, CNS and oncology as therapeutic areas, and in high throughput technologies applied to pharmaceuticals. Since 2003 he is Associate Professor at the Università degli Studi di Milano, and since 2005 he is in charge of the High Throughput Synthesis/Combinatorial Chemistry Lab. Since October 1997 he is a Scientific Advisor for ICS-UNIDO, a UN branch dealing with technology transfer to developping countries. He has contributed to organize symposia on combinatorial technologies, and to design and execute pilot projects, in countries such as India, the Philippines, Thailand and Mexico.
Prof. Pierfausto Seneci