Alfa Aesar
Encyclopedia
Alfa Aesar, headquartered in Ward Hill, Massachusetts
, is a supplier of reagent
s and materials for use in research and development
, and analysis. They have facilities in many countries and manufacture many of the chemicals
they sell. Their main manufacturing organic chemical facility is located at Heysham
, Lancashire, UK.
54.0383°N 2.9071°W
Both Lancaster Synthesis and Avocado had close trading links to Alfa at various times prior to the takeover: the organic products sold in Germany through the Alfa-Ventron catalogue were sourced from Lancaster, while Avocado products were distributed both in the USA and Germany by the combined Alfa-Aesar. During the late 1970s / early 1980s Lancaster Synthesis was - at least notionally - the UK distribution agent for the USA Alfa range, taking this business over after it was relinquished by Aldrich UK. However this relationship was undermined when Alfa-Ventron independently opened its own short-lived sales unit in the Thiokol-Morton offices in Coventry.
Alfa Aesar is a major supplier in the research and fine chemicals
market offering over 30,000 products - many of which are rare compounds
, which are unique to a major catalogue supplier. Alfa Aesar provides materials for drug discovery
, materials science
and all the essential building blocks for organic synthesis
.
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, is a supplier of reagent
Reagent
A reagent is a "substance or compound that is added to a system in order to bring about a chemical reaction, or added to see if a reaction occurs." Although the terms reactant and reagent are often used interchangeably, a reactant is less specifically a "substance that is consumed in the course of...
s and materials for use in research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
, and analysis. They have facilities in many countries and manufacture many of the chemicals
Chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
they sell. Their main manufacturing organic chemical facility is located at Heysham
Heysham
Heysham is a large coastal village near Lancaster in the county of Lancashire, England. Overlooking Morecambe Bay, it is a ferry port with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland. Heysham is the site of two nuclear power stations which are landmarks visible from hills in the surrounding area...
, Lancashire, UK.
54.0383°N 2.9071°W
History
The current Alfa Aesar setup - part of the Johnson Matthey Fine Chemicals & Catalysts Division - comes from a series of company mergers:- Alfa Inorganics was originally founded in 1962 by Alfred BaderAlfred BaderAlfred Bader CBE is a Canadian chemist, businessman and collector of fine art.-Early years:Bader's father's family was of Czech Jewish descent; his mother was a Catholic Hungarian aristocrat. He fled from Austria to England in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution...
, in a 50:50 venture between Aldrich Chemicals and Metal Hydrides Inc. The purpose was to provide a source of inorganic research chemicals to sit alongside the organic chemicals of Bader's other company: Aldrich Chemicals. It was created to market inorganics, organometallics, and others such as organoboron and organoarsenic reagents. Following the amalgamation of Aldrich and the Sigma Chemical Co, the joint venture was terminated with Alfa reverting to Metal Hydrides ownership (later Ventron, later again Thiokol). In the USA the business was branded as Alfa, and sold only inorganics. In Europe, the business was branded as Alfa-Ventron (to distinguish it from the UK company Alfa Chemicals) and also later sold a limted range of organic chemicals sourced from Lancaster Synthesis. The European sales office was in Karlsruhe, Germany. The USA and European operations used different (though similar) catalogues, with completely different product number sequences and appear to have been run with a high degree of independence from each other. Thiokol eventually tired of the non-mainstream business and sold it to Aesar, who closed the USA site and relocated the business to the Aesar location.
- Johnson Matthey Research Chemicals. Johnson-Matthey had two distinct research chemical catalogues, one of high purity inorganic chemicals and metals, the other a (short-lived) range of inorganic reagents, solvents and acids. This was operated from their facility at RoystonRoystonRoyston is the name of several places:* Royston, South Yorkshire, England* Royston, British Columbia, Canada* Royston, Hertfordshire England** Royston Town F.C., an English football club* Royston, Glasgow, a district of Glasgow, Scotland...
, HertfordshireHertfordshireHertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
U.K. Royston had manufacturing and machining equipment for high purity metal foils, powders, ribbons and salts.
- Aesar. This was Johnson Matthey's part-owned USA distribution agent for their range of high purity inorganics. Aesar had no manufacturing or bottling facilities, being simply a distribution centre. Following the takeover of Alfa, the combined business was rebranded Alfa-Aesar, rationalised on the Aesar location at Ward Hill, and Johnson-Matthey assumed full ownership. This grew in importance to lead the Johnson Matthey research chemical interests.
- Lancaster Synthesis, initially based in LancasterLancaster, LancashireLancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
and then MorecambeMorecambeMorecambe is a resort town and civil parish within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. As of 2001 it has a resident population of 38,917. It faces into Morecambe Bay...
, LancashireLancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
UK. This business was founded by Eric Wildsmith and Wilf Maughan and specialised in the manufacture and supply of organic research chemicals. The business was sold to MTM PLC for £20,000,000 in 1989, following which Maughan retired and Wildsmith was eventually ousted as Managing Director by the Executive Chairman of MTM : Richard Lines. MTM subsequently went bankrupt, Lines and the MTM Financial Director, Tom Baxter were jailed for fraud, and Lancaster Synthesis (by then rebranded MTM Research Chemicals) was sold to BTP PLC in 1993 - who reverted the name to Lancaster Synthesis. BTP in turn was later sold to Clariant, who had no idea what to do with the company - and eventually agreed a sale to Johnson Matthey for £14,000,000. Unfortunately a few weeks before the sale was due to complete, an unexplained major fire destroyed the scale-up plant and the majority of the bulk stock. This has echoes of another destructive fire on the eve of the MTM takeover, which totally destroyed a manufacturing laboratory. The Lancaster Synthesis sites have now all closed, with all operations moved to the newer Avocado facilities at Heysham. During the period of MTM ownership, a series of other companies were acquired and brought under notional control: Loba Feinchemie (Fischamend, Austria), Farchan Laboratories (Gainesville, Florida) Monomer Polymer & Dajac Labs (USA). These were all sold back to their previous owners or local management following the MTM collapse as they required too high a management input from the UK, and had never been properly integrated.
- Fairfield Chemicals, Blythewood, South Carolina. This was a small-scale manufacturing plant near Columbia S.C. which specialised in hazardous chemistry, often involving fluorine and phosgene. It was acquired by MTM from its founder, Hiram S. Allen, as a USA manufacturing plant for Lancaster Synthesis, and was the one MTM Research Chemical acquisition that was properly integrated and managed. Like many other similar small chemical sites in that part of South Carolina, it was subject to intense local environmental concerns and pressures, driving Clariant to eventually close the site. However the intellectual property, stock and customers were transferred to Lancaster Synthesis prior to closure.
- Avocado Research Chemicals, based in HeyshamHeyshamHeysham is a large coastal village near Lancaster in the county of Lancashire, England. Overlooking Morecambe Bay, it is a ferry port with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland. Heysham is the site of two nuclear power stations which are landmarks visible from hills in the surrounding area...
, LancashireLancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, UK, specializing in organic chemicals. This was Eric Wildsmiths second foray into the research chamical business. Originally based in Lancaster, it quickly grew, moving to a purpose built location at Heysham following a serious fire at its second location on Caton Road, Lancaster. It was subsequently sold to Johnson-Matthey for £25,000,000 and integrated into Alfa-Aesar, becoming their main organic production plant.
Both Lancaster Synthesis and Avocado had close trading links to Alfa at various times prior to the takeover: the organic products sold in Germany through the Alfa-Ventron catalogue were sourced from Lancaster, while Avocado products were distributed both in the USA and Germany by the combined Alfa-Aesar. During the late 1970s / early 1980s Lancaster Synthesis was - at least notionally - the UK distribution agent for the USA Alfa range, taking this business over after it was relinquished by Aldrich UK. However this relationship was undermined when Alfa-Ventron independently opened its own short-lived sales unit in the Thiokol-Morton offices in Coventry.
Product lines
Alfa Aesar supplies a large variety of chemicals for various disciplines:- Organic chemistryOrganic chemistryOrganic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
- Inorganic chemistryInorganic chemistryInorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and behavior of inorganic compounds. This field covers all chemical compounds except the myriad organic compounds , which are the subjects of organic chemistry...
- Analytical chemistryAnalytical chemistryAnalytical chemistry is the study of the separation, identification, and quantification of the chemical components of natural and artificial materials. Qualitative analysis gives an indication of the identity of the chemical species in the sample and quantitative analysis determines the amount of...
- ChromatographyChromatographyChromatography is the collective term for a set of laboratory techniques for the separation of mixtures....
- SemiconductorSemiconductorA semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
manufacturing - Pure elementChemical elementA chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
s - ResearchResearchResearch can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
essentials (Solvents, buffersBuffering agentA buffering agent is a weak acid or base used to maintain the acidity of a solution at a chosen value. The function of a buffering agent is to prevent a rapid change in pH when acids or bases are added to the solution. Buffering agents have variable properties—some are more soluble than others;...
, acidAcidAn acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
s and bases, general reagentReagentA reagent is a "substance or compound that is added to a system in order to bring about a chemical reaction, or added to see if a reaction occurs." Although the terms reactant and reagent are often used interchangeably, a reactant is less specifically a "substance that is consumed in the course of...
s) - Large scale chemicals & contract manufacturing
Alfa Aesar is a major supplier in the research and fine chemicals
Fine chemicals
Fine chemicals are pure, single chemical substances that are commercially produced with chemical reactions for highly specialized applications. Fine chemicals produced can be categorized into active pharmaceutical ingredients and their intermediates, biocides, and specialty chemicals for technical...
market offering over 30,000 products - many of which are rare compounds
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...
, which are unique to a major catalogue supplier. Alfa Aesar provides materials for drug discovery
Drug discovery
In the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered or designed.In the past most drugs have been discovered either by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by serendipitous discovery...
, materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
and all the essential building blocks for organic synthesis
Organic synthesis
Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the construction of organic compounds via organic reactions. Organic molecules can often contain a higher level of complexity compared to purely inorganic compounds, so the synthesis of organic compounds has...
.