Fine chemicals pharmaceutical ingredients

Similarly, low volume chemicals are classified according to whether they are sold primarily on the basis of specification or performance. Specialties are generally formulations that are sold on the basis of their performance and their prices reflect their value rather than cost of production. Producers of specialty chemicals often provide extensive technical service to their customers. Examples of specialty chemicals include pharmaceuticals, pesticides, flavours and fragrances, specialty polymers, etc. Fine chemicals, on the other hand, are produced to customer specifications and are often intermediates or active ingredients for specialty chemicals, e.g. pharmaceutical and agrochemical intermediates and bulk actives. 

Specialty chemicals are formulations of chemicals containing one or more fine chemicals as active ingredients. They are identified according to performance properties. Customers are trades outside the chemical industry and the public. Specialty chemicals are usually sold under brand names. Suppliers have to provide product information. Subcategories are adhesives, agrochemicals, biocides, catalysts, dyestuffs and pigments, enzymes, electronic chemicals, flavors and fragrances, food and feed additives, pharmaceuticals, and specialty polymers (see Chapter 11). 

Pharmaceuticals containing more than 2000 different active ingredients are in commerce today a sizable number of them are sourced from the fine-chemical industry. They can be classified according to different criteria. In order of relevance to the fine-chemical industry, they are described in the following paragraphs ... 

Fine chemicals are also identified by their chemical structure. However, they usually have complex production processes and consequently a high value add. Typical examples are amino acids and pharmaceutical active ingredients but also highly concentrated forms of commodity chemicals. 

Chemicals Manufacturing Biotechnology Equipment Pharmaceutical Ingredients Fine Chemicals Chromatography Products... 

The potential for industrial biotech has been broadly recognized and chemical and biotech companies are starting to move into this space and grow their presence. In fact, about five percent of the estimated USD 1.2 trillion total chemical sales already depend on biotech. The global market for bio-based ethanol alone is worth USD 15 billion other basic organic molecules such as citric acid (USD two billion) and lactic acid are produced by fermentation, and so are all but three amino acids (approx. USD four billion) various basic, advanced and active pharmaceutical ingredients produced by the fine chemical industry are worth USD 7.5 billion the attractive enzyme market has reached USD two billion in... 

Food ingredients Nutritional ingredients Pharmaceuticals Fine chemicals... 

While these divestitures were taking place, traditional fine chemicals manufacturers were able to enjoy new contracts for the synthesis of active ingredients from companies involved in crop protection products and pharmaceuticals. Many European companies were the beneficiaries of the new trend. In Switzerland the leader was Lonza, which became independent in 1999 when its mother company, Alu Suisse, merged with the Canadian aluminum manufacturer Alcan. Other Swiss firms—such as Siegfried AG, EMS-Dottikon, Cilag, and Orgamol, Rohner, now part of Dynamit Nobel—took advantage of these developments. Clariant entered the field on a big scale in 2000 with its acquisition of BTP. 

Production of fine chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) will also continue to benefit from the judicious application of biocatalysis, in many cases as part of multistep synthetic schemes. Of particular relevance is the increasing demand for chirally pure pharmaceuticals, driven by concerns about the unwanted side-effects often associated with racemic drugs. Another growth area is likely to be the production of biologically active carbohydrates, traditionally requiring complex and expensive chemistries for production, to be used as pharmaceuticals, in infant formula, and as nutritional supplements. 

Crop Protection Chemicals Agrochemicals Fragrance Ingredients Fine Chemicals Optical Brighteners Pharmaceutical Intermediates Health Food Ingredients Industrial Additives... 

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