麻豆社

Chemical technology is about making large numbers of similar compounds to test as possible medicines.

Chemical technologists (sometimes called combinatorial chemists) use robotic or automated techniques to make听many different, though often听structurally related, chemical compounds in a single process.

Very small quantities of each compound听are produced. They are then compiled into听compound libraries, with information听of each stored in a database.听

Within the field of听drug听discovery, this would usually be followed by high-throughput screening. This is a technique which enables听thousands to millions of tests to be conducted听on the compounds, using robotics and computer software, very quickly.听These tests aim to establish which molecules show activity, and hence may be used within drug design.

Once active compounds have been discovered, larger quantities听are prepared听by a synthetic organic chemist to enable further studies to be carried out.