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Digital chemistry to be performed in space

chemistry
Picture credit: MaxPixel

Cronin Group, the AIM listed company with a business activity of the digitization of chemical space is pleased to note that an experiment designed by its scientific founder is to be carried out on a DIDO2 nano-satellite, successfully launched yesterday on an Indian Space Research Organisation rocket.

Prof Lee Cronin, the University of Glasgow Regius Chair of Chemistry and Founding Scientific Director of the Company, designed the experiment in partnership with SpacePharma, a company which specialises in providing scientists with access to microgravity environments.

The Company owns the commercial rights to intellectual property from the University of Glasgow to develop the Chemputer, which intends to open up chemistry to a wide user-base via digitization.

Prof Cronin said: “It’s exciting to see digital chemistry being trialled in space for the first time. Low and zero-gravity offer a range of new opportunities for performing chemical reactions which I believe will only be able to be performed routinely using a digital chemistry platform.

“The Company announced in January that during 2017 it anticipated early product releases of DigitalGlassware, it‘s low-cost, easy to use chemical telemetry product designed to enable the routine digitization of chemistry in commercial and academic research laboratories.

“The experiment carried out today is part of previous research performed and part-funded by the University, with additional funding from the European Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The research aims to digitize chemistry and make it possible for chemical compounds of all kinds to be printed on demand.”