
Watson Chem: Empowering Global Clients with Innovative Chiral Catalysis Technologies
Chiral catalysis plays a crucial role in fine chemicals and pharmaceutical synthesis. As a technology pioneer in this field, Watson Chem leverages years of technical expertise and innovation to provide global clients with highly efficient and reliable chiral catalysts and catalysis development services, helping them seamlessly transition from laboratory research to industrial-scale production.
Sadphos: A New Generation of Multi-Coordinated Adaptive Ligands
Sadphos series represents a new frontier in chiral ligand design. These ligands feature a non-C2-symmetric architecture, offering a unique balance of rigidity and flexibility, and are capable of coordinating with a variety of metals, significantly broadening their catalytic applications.
Sadphos ligands offer several key advantages:
- Stable Raw Material Supply: The required starting materials are primarily basic chemical products, ensuring a mature and stable supply chain for large-scale applications.
- Simple and Efficient Synthesis: Typically synthesized in 2–4 steps, the processes are well-established and easily scalable, meeting industrial production standards.
- Cost-Effectiveness: With low-cost raw materials and highly efficient synthesis routes, Sadphos ligands provide significant economic advantages to customers.
- Structural Flexibility: By modifying substituents, the ligand library can be rapidly expanded, enabling tailored optimizations for different catalytic systems and further reducing production costs.
- Broad Applicability: Sadphos ligands demonstrate strong catalytic activity and high enantioselectivity across a wide range of metals, making them suitable for various reaction types including asymmetric hydrogenation, cross-coupling, and C–H activation.
With the outstanding performance of Sadphos, Watson Chem has achieved key technical breakthroughs in multiple high-value sectors, establishing itself as a trusted partner for clients worldwide.
Comprehensive Chiral Catalysis Screening and Custom Development Services
Beyond its proprietary ligand library, Watson Chem offers robust catalyst modification and custom development capabilities. The company provides end-to-end chiral catalysis screening services, covering asymmetric hydrogenation (alkenes, carbonyls, imines), coupling reactions, organocatalysis, photocatalysis, and continuous flow processes, achieving an overall catalytic success rate exceeding 80%.
Unlike conventional screening service providers, Watson Chem can customize catalyst structures based on client-specific requirements, significantly enhancing catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. To date, the company has amassed a stock of over 200 kilogram-scale known chiral catalysts/complexes, along with more than 800 proprietary chiral catalysts/ligands, offering clients diversified and scalable technical solutions.

Representative successful cases include:
- Asymmetric Catalysis of Elacestrant Intermediates: Achieved with a catalyst loading as low as 0.01%, delivering high efficiency and cost savings.
- Asymmetric Hydrogenation of L-Carnitine Intermediates: Catalyst loading reduced to 0.005%, demonstrating outstanding catalytic performance.
- Asymmetric Hydrogenation for Cenobamate (an antiepileptic agent) Intermediates: Catalyst loading as low as 0.01%, achieving highly efficient and selective synthesis.
Custom Synthesis and Kilogram-Scale Process Optimization
In addition to catalyst development, Watson Chem provides custom synthesis and kilogram-scale process optimization services. By overcoming technical barriers, the company successfully completes the efficient synthesis of complex, high-value molecules, helping clients accelerate their project timelines and achieve competitive advantages in their respective markets.
Through continuous innovation and a deep commitment to technical excellence, Watson Chem stands at the forefront of chiral catalysis, offering comprehensive, flexible, and high-value solutions to global customers.