about us
EDDU
Early Drug Discovery Unit (EDDU) at the University of Barcelona
Services and Technologies
The synthetic work is performed at the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the Universitat de Barcelona. The laboratory, fully refurbished in 2020, has all the equipment required for conducting organic and medicinal chemistry research:
The synthetic work is performed at the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the Universitat de Barcelona. The laboratory, fully refurbished in 2020, has all the equipment required for conducting organic and medicinal chemistry research:
- basic synthetic equipment (rotavapors, heaters, vacuum oven, etc.),
- three automated column chromatography systems (Combiflash, Puriflash and Biotage),
- analytical equipment (2 Agilent HPLC/UV, FT/IR spectrometer, HPLC Agilent 1260 coupled to mass spectrometer),
- specialized synthetic equipment: small- and large-scale photochemical reactors, a Biotage microwave synthesizer.
Additionally, we have also access to shared facilities in the same building, including a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer with an automatic sample changer and variable temperature capabilities and a separated laboratory for hazardous reactions, equipped with gases such as CO₂, NH₃, O₂, and others, as well as ozone generators and high-pressure hydrogenation equipment.
Through the UB’s “Scientific and Technological Centers” additional advanced services are available, including 500 and 800 MHz NMR spectroscopy, accurate mass measurement, X-ray diffraction analysis, and more.
Services
- Structural elucidation (NMR, HPLC/MS), isolation and synthesis of impurities of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), degradation products from finished pharmaceutical products, and metabolites.
- Optimization and scale-up of routes of synthesis for APIs.
- Hit to lead optimization, design and synthesis of chemical libraries and scaffolds.
- Expert opinion about new synthetic routes, intellectual property, infraction risks, etc.
- Binding site identification and druggability assessment.
- Virtual Screening.
- Molecular Dynamics and Enhanced Sampling Methods.
- Design, synthesis and elucidation of the mechanism of action of PROTAC molecules.
Know-how:
- Synthesis of bioactive compounds.
- Reactions under special conditions (flow-chemistry, microwave irradiation, photochemistry, ozonolysis, low- and high-pressure hydrogenation, etc.).
- Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD), including virtual screening, molecular dynamics, druggability assessment and binding-site identification.
- Development of small-molecules that target novel E3 ubiquitin ligases.
- Biophysical approaches for drug discovery, including DSF, SPR, ITC, ligand-based NMR and fluorescence techniques.
Clients and collaborators
