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CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS

A Global Leader in Chemical Synthesis Reagents

Supporting molecule API synthesis from concept to commercialization with precision, reliability and safety.

At Albemarle, we understand that the success of pharmaceutical, agricultural and fragrance innovation hinges on precision, reliability and safety. That’s why our Tools for Synthesis reagent portfolio is designed to empower manufacturers, including originators and CDMOs, with high-purity, performance-driven reagents delivered at global production scale.

We focus on the supply of reagents for small molecule API manufacturing, supporting customers across continents. Our close collaboration with CMC (Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls) teams aims to ensure that each reagent is tailored to your process needs, enabling smooth development and highly efficient scale-up. We strive to be your strategic supplier for highly demanding reactions.

Precision Chemistry, Tailored to Your Needs

Our value lies in the combination of our unmatched technical expertise, operational capabilities, consistent high quality and global reliability.

Customizable Reagent Selection
Our teams help you select the optimal reagent for complex transformations by suggesting solvent systems, concentrations and solid particle characteristics to help meet your process needs.

Safety & Compliance at Every Scale
As you scale up operations, we assist your team with on-site technical support, audits and training to promote safe handling of our products. This includes guidance on product properties and hazard mitigation through technical, operational and protective measures. Additionally, our flexible fleet of returnable containers is designed to enhance safety and efficiency.

Consistent High Quality
Our 50+ years of manufacturing expertise combined with our sophisticated production capabilities and vertically integrated operations enable consistent, high-quality output – for even the most customized solutions.

Supply Reliability, Wherever You Operate
With production facilities in Europe (Langelsheim, Germany), North America (New Johnsonville, USA) and Asia (Taichung, Taiwan) supported by a robust global distribution and warehouse network.

Market-led Innovation

With decades of R&D experience in reactive materials, lithium compounds and specialized reagents, we stay aligned with market needs and collaborate with leading academic institutions to advance innovation and deliver next‑generation solutions.

Enabling a Broad Range of Organic Transformations

Albemarle’s Tools for Synthesis reagent portfolio enables a broad range of organic transformations including reductions, deprotonations, halogen-metal exchanges, C–C couplings, brominations and more. Our range of complex metal hydride reagents cover the full spectrum of reduction strengths, with adjustable nucleophilicity to improve yield and selectivity.

For halogen-metal exchange reactions, our Turbo Grignards enable efficient metalation of even challenging halides, delivering high-purity building blocks under milder conditions. To simplify scale-up and avoid handling of corrosive or hygroscopic solids, we offer salt solutions—such as zinc salts for accessing organozinc intermediates in Negishi couplings.

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Driving Precision in Drug Manufacturing

Our reagents are used today in the most critical steps of many commercial drugs manufacturing where optimization of yield, selectivity and reliability are paramount.

Whether you are in early-stage route selection or preparing for scaling and commercial launches, we recommend engaging with us early on in drug manufacturing development efforts so that we can help you:

Customize and optimize reagent selection for performance and availability
Streamline process development and scale-up
Foster supply continuity for critical manufacturing steps

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Specialty Reagents for Chemical Synthesis

Our diverse Tools for Synthesis portfolio includes:

Alkoxides
Metal amides
Bromine, alkyl bromides and other derivatives
Hydrides
Organomagnesium compounds (Grignards and Turbo Grignards)
Organolithium compounds
Specialty salts and anhydrous salt solutions
Cesium compounds

View our Product Line Portfolio to learn more. Looking for a reagent you don't see in our active Product Portfolio? Contact us to learn about our capability to manufacture custom reagents to help meet your specific needs.

Pharmaceutical-Grade Lithium Carbonate

Albemarle is a provider of select Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), aligned to various global standards, for the manufacture of drugs and medications to help provide their intended therapeutic effect.

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Chemical Synthesis Events, Stories & More

Solutions
May 29, 2025
From Lab to Life: Albemarle’s Expertise Enables Solutions for Modern Medicine
Among Albemarle’s specialty chemicals are a suite of tools for synthesis, which are solutions that enable the development of new drugs and help pharmaceutical manufacturers produce them at large scale.