22/06/06

Merck KGaA and Bioniqs Ltd announce a transformational cooperation
agreement in the field of Ionic Liquids

Bioniqs Ltd is delighted to announce a landmark partnership agreement with the German chemicals giant Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany). Through this partnership, Merck KGaA will manufacture and distribute through its catalogue a selected range of Bioniqs Ltd proprietary ammonium based ionic liquids.

Merck KGaA is pleased to expand its commercial portfolio through this partnership, since the Bioniqs Ltd reagents complement the established range of Merck Ionic Liquids perfectly.

Many of the Bioniqs Ltd bespoke ionic liquids are particularly appropriate for biological applications as well as for bulk uses, such as biomass processing, reactor decontamination/cleaning and natural product extraction. Their utility in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry is becoming very apparent and many companies are now placing orders for solvent design and contract research with Bioniqs. The usefulness of these reagents in biocatalysis is also becoming apparent as the Bioniqs ionic liquids reagents can readily dissolve enzyme substrates which are poorly soluble or unstable in water.

Dr Neil Sullivan, Commercial Director of Bioniqs said; “The potential of the Bioniqs ionic liquids is immense and is only just beginning to be realized. Our confidence is shared by our new partner, Merck KGaA. This deal underpins an exciting future for the company as customers are now seeing the benefits that both our ionic liquids and ionic liquids in general can bring to their industrial processes”.

Dr Urs Welz-Biermann, Project Manager of the Merck ionic liquids division in Darmstadt says that "the Bioniqs Ltd range of ionic liquids are a perfect complement to our existing range of ionic liquids. They fill a gap in our product portfolio which will enable us to work in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. We believe the properties of the Bioniqs reagents offer considerable market potential".

Bioniqs Ltd product and contract research sales are growing rapidly as customers experience the advantages of using its reagents for pharmaceutical and biotechnology related applications. This reflects a growing awareness in the world wide market place for the use of ionic liquid technology in research, development and industrial processes.

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