For more than 30 years, Specs has been providing chemical compounds to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research organizations to drive their drug discovery programs.
These compounds are acquired from a range of academia and research institutes worldwide. Specs currently stores a dynamic library of more
than 350,000 unique compounds. We continuously add compounds to our collection, but only those that meet our strict selection criteria. These compounds must be new, exhibit structural characteristics of a biologically active compound and must also meet ADMET requirements in order to be added to our stock.
The Specs collection of screening compounds contains nearly 300,000 compounds available in 1mg amounts and over 200,000 compounds available in 10mg amounts or more. In case a certain compound shows activity in your screening platform, a confirmation sample can be obtained. Our re-supply rate is over 90%. From all compounds in the
Specs stock, a small amount is retained and only available to customers
who have purchased the compound before. On average, the molecular weight ranges from 175 to 500 Dalton with a purity level of at least 90% but most compounds have a purity of >95%. Sample delivery can be customized to tailor-fit your specific requirements in (your own) vials, tubes or plates. The latter can be supplied in mass or molar quantities, dissolved in DMSO or as a dry film.
download our factsheetChemical diversity in nature is based on biological and geographical diversity. Due to Specs’ global sourcing program, we offer a diverse and unique set of isolated and synthesized natural products from plants, fungi, marine organisms, bacteria and natural product derivatives.
We do not offer extracts, only isolated or synthesized and well characterized compounds with a purity level of more than 80%. Currently we have almost 800 natural products in stock, generally available in vial format from 5mg and more but also available as a pre-plated set in five 96-well plates.
download our factsheetSpecs does not discard the compounds that do not meet our strict requirements but recognizes the importance that these compounds might play in certain screening platforms or synthesis campaigns. This database is an unfiltered collection of compounds that is offered to us by our network of academic and research institutes from all over
the world and is available for download from our website through your personal account. The compounds in this academic database are not supplied from stock but will be ordered from our suppliers which may lead to a somewhat longer delivery time. The quality of these compounds is checked in-house.
download our factsheet
The Specs Research Laboratory (SRL) has been a reliable partner for outsourcing a wide variety of chemistry services for 20 years. The range of chemistry activities performed at SRL supports and continues to add
to the entire Specs compound portfolio.Our chemists are involved in a number of shared risk collaborations and grant funded research projects in various oncology and CNS programs.
At SRL we are able to perform single compound synthesis like patent markers and intermediates, reference compounds, metabolites, building blocks, natural products etc. Synthesis of well-documented literature compounds, as well as compounds developed in your own
research facility, can be quoted on a No-Cure-No-Pay basis. Our chemists will evaluate your inquiry and return a competitive quotation usually within one day.
download our factsheetSRL has gained extensive expertise in the design and synthesis of small focused libraries for the various stages of Hit-to-Lead discovery and optimization. Over the years, we have successfully executed several projects for a number of the top 10 pharmaceutical and smaller biotech companies. Contract research projects can run under monthly or annual FTE-contracts.
A construction in which our already attractive FTE-rate is split in a monthly fee and a success fee upon delivery is also possible.
For long-term commitments, umbrella-agreements can be instated
giving you the opportunity to outsource multiple projects in a cost-effective way. This enables you to (re)define running projects and change priorities under the same existing contract.
All your questions and inquiries will be treated with the highest discretion. Confidentiality agreements will safeguard your intellectual property. Contract research is always performed on an exclusive basis. Therefore we do not claim any rights to data, compounds and newly developed intellectual property.
For more than 30 years, Specs has been one of the leading suppliers of research compounds for the Life Science industry. The Specs in-house 350.000+ compound library has been built through global acquisition programs utilizing a network of more than 2,000 academic sources worldwide.
We are always looking for new, non-commercially available compounds to add to our stock. One of the most interesting ways for chemists to participate in our acquisition program is through a tailor-made consignment agreement in which you will receive a fixed fee or percentage for every mg sold.
You will remain owner of your compounds, but Specs will take care of all the marketing and sales efforts. We will handle the quality control, marketing, plating, packaging and shipping to our customers. Your compounds will be offered to all of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies and every three months you will receive feedback on the sales performance of your compounds, information about the industry’s chemical interests and we will remunerate the invoices of your sales accordingly. We will select all compounds that comply with our compound acquisition program and which are not already available in the Specs collection. Our guidelines for screening samples and building blocks, formulated in close collaboration with our customers, are listed below.
In general, desirable screening compounds have a molecular weight between 175 and 500 Dalton and contain at least one, but preferably three or more heteroatoms. The purity of the offered screening compounds must be at least 90%.
Some examples are:
• Fused ring heterocycles like e.g. quinazolines, pyrazoles, oxazoles, thiazoles, isoxazoles, imidazoles, benzisoxazoles, pyridines, quinolines, benzodiapines, dihydropyridines, etc.
• Saturated, non-aromatic heterocycles like e.g. tetrahydroisoquinolines, (iso)indoles, tetrahydropyrans, fused lactams and lactones, branched or tethered with multiple substituent groups such as aryl, alkyl with a maximum of 4 successive linear carbon atoms, branched-chain alkyl, aminoalkyl, hydroalkyl, ether, thioether, sulphonylalkyl, carboxyl, sulphonamide, carboxamido, carboalkoxy, etc.
• Bridged bi- or tricyclic compounds
exhibiting three-dimensional shapes. These compounds could be all carbon or consist of oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen atoms in the core molecule and contain multiple substituents.
• Isolated or synthesized natural products or
analogues thereof like e.g. tetracyclines, macrolides, novel beta-lactams etc. with variations in the core nucleus or substituents.
We do not accept screening compounds with a molecular weight of less than 175 or more than 500 Dalton and compounds containing no heteroatoms other than just carbon, hydrogen, silicon and halogens. Furthermore, we do not accept:
• Reactive compounds like e.g. epoxides, acid chlorides, anhydrides, isothiocyanates, phosphonium salts, O-silyl compounds, nitroso compounds, N-halides, azides, diazonium salts, azobenzenes, hydrazines, pyrillium salts, phosphoryl halides, trialkyl phosphines, perchlorates, periodates etc.
• Polymers and inorganic compounds
• Large series of simple analogs (methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, butyl- etc.).
• Simple linear aliphatic esters, thioesters and amides.
• Heavy metal containing organic compounds or salts.
• Crude extracts of natural products.
• Liquids and oils.
In general, desirable building blocks are non-commercially available solid small (hetero) cyclic (fused) ring compounds with a molecular weight of the core structure of less than 350 Dalton containing two or more chemical handles. The purity of the offered building blocks must be at least 95%.
Some examples of core structures of interest are:
• Pyridines, di- and triazines, tri- and tetrazoles, imidazoles, pyrazoles, (di)thia(di)azoles, (iso)quinolines, (iso)indoles, benzofuranes, benzothiophenes, benzimidazoles, benzoxazoles, benzothiazoles, indazoles, pteridines, naphtheridines, purines, phthalazines, quinazolines quinoxalines, chromanones, chromenones, acridines, phenazines, phenothiazines, (partially) hydrogenated forms of these compounds as well as new heterocyclic ring structures.
Some examples of chemical handles of interest are:
• Carboxylic acids, aldehydes, (stable) acid chlorides, sulfonic acids and sulfonyl chlorides, aromatic or alkyl bearing alcohols amines and halogens, methyl and acyl groups, (methyl)hydroxy-, (methyl)thio- and nitro groups, hydrazines, imines, oximes and combinations of all of the
above.
We are looking forward to evaluating your offers.