CEM's Breakthrough High-Efficiency Peptide Synthesis Technology Wins R&D 100 Award

--New System Reduces Synthesis Time 25-Fold and Solvent Usage By 90%

MATTHEWS, North Carolina, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CEM Corporation, a leading provider of microwave laboratory instrumentation, is pleased to announce that the Liberty Blue™ Automated Microwave Peptide Synthesizer is a winner of a 2014 R&D 100 Award. The award is presented on a yearly basis by the editors of R&D Magazine in recognition of the 100 most "technologically significant new products and processes of the year."

The Liberty Blue is a new, revolutionary technology that dramatically improves peptide synthesis. The system utilizes a new high-efficiency solid phase peptide synthesis (HE-SPPS) process that allows peptides to be synthesized in higher purity up to 25 times faster than conventional systems and 6 times faster than currently available microwave systems. In addition, it results in a 90% reduction in solvent usage, which is a major cost driver in peptide synthesis. HE-SPPS enables the synthesis of a peptide in less than 1 hour, instead of days, and provides a major enhancement for producing fundamental biological materials needed for drug research and many other fields of study in Life Sciences with a significant reduction in purification and solvent costs.

"Liberty Blue is the culmination of years of research on the peptide synthesis process and, due to the critical need for peptides in the pharmaceutical industry and life science research, it is one of the most important products we have ever designed," said Michael J. Collins, president and CEO of CEM Corporation. "It is a singular distinction to be chosen for this award and we would like to thank the judges and the editors of R&D Magazine for their consideration.

"Liberty Blue is game changing technology that has already created a tremendous response in the market. In less than a year, this new technology has been adopted by a substantial number of key academic and industrial laboratories involved in the peptide field in North America, Europe, and Asia. Overall feedback has been extremely positive.

"Obviously, we are very pleased with this initial response and are excited about the future potential for this technology as the market continues to expand. We will continue to focus on this important field and will be announcing several new innovations later this year," Collins concluded.

The Liberty Blue technology, known as High-Efficiency Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis (HE-SPPS), was recently featured in Organic Letters¹ and C&E News².

CEM Corporation, a private company based in Matthews, North Carolina, is the leading global company specializing in scientific solutions for critical laboratory applications. The Company has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom& Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan, as well as a global network of distributors. CEM designs and manufactures systems for bioscience applications, life sciences, analytical laboratories and processing plants worldwide. The Company's products are used in many industries including pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical, and food processing, as well as academic research.

¹High-Efficiency Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis, Organic Letters, 2014, 16 (3), pp 940–943, DOI: 10.1021/ol4036825
²Faster and Cleaner Peptide Synthesis, C&E News, 2014, Feb. 10, p27