The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Perugia focuses chiefly on the discovery and characterisation of synthetic and natural bioactive compounds, and the development of pharmaceutical formulations to improve the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of lead compounds.
Antimo Gioiello, Associate Professor in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, explained: “My laboratory is particularly interested in steroid chemistry and receptors, and has experience in the implementation of enabling technologies – such as flow chemistry – to assist complex syntheses, generation of lead-like compound libraries and large-scale compound preparation.“
“My interest in flow chemistry began about ten years ago, when I met Professor Steven Ley at a European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry congress in Vienna. I realized its potential, and began to investigate flow chemistry applications.“
Gioiello continued: “Syrris is highly regarded and after talking to the company, I invested in a modular Asia system to diversify our flow equipment. One of the most important features of the system is the extremely smooth and precise flow achieved by the Asia pump, even at the low flow rates we use in our processes.“
"It is also really useful for compound library generation, screening reactions and optimization studies, as it is easy to work with small amounts of compound, which is important when you work with costly materials, such as enzymes. I am very pleased with the Asia system; it is every bit as good as I expected, and wonderful to be able to translate biosynthetic steroid pathways into continuous flow processes to expedite early drug discovery.”