Why custom synthesis still takes months

Ask an R&D team how long it took to get their last custom compound and the answer is rarely shorter than two months. Very little of that time is chemistry.

#Where the weeks go

The synthesis itself doesn't get shorter. Everything around it does.

#Why the waiting adds up

Each stage depends on a person replying to the previous one, and each reply carries a little uncertainty. A feasibility review that ends in "probably, but we'd need to check the third step" sends the project back a stage.

#What changes

When feasibility, routing and pricing are computed rather than negotiated, the early stages collapse into a single session. The chemists' time goes where it matters: running and optimising the reactions.