Final Report Summary - LIGBANK (The European Ligand Bank: An Innovation Facility) Overall, LIGBANK has delivered exactly what was proposed - in that an independent research facility: the European Ligand Bank has been developed on time and within budget (94 % of proposed funding level deployed). The 8 academic contractors have attained developed circa 600 structurally diverse samples of ligand additives and these have been trialled in both existing and new chemical reactions. These activities have led to the publication of 3 patents, 46 scientific papers and 63 oral presentations at world-wide industrial, academic and scientific meetings in over 18 counties. There has been a strong and vibrant research exchange between the academic partners both in terms of ligand exchange and staff (10 x 1 month collaborations by young scientists). As anticipated this active 'screening' of reactions / additives via the ligand bank has been extremely productive and has identified new catalytic protocols and reagents. In one case, a reagent has been commercially developed with the Sigma-Aldrich chemical company and this is now in production at a kilo scale. It can be anticipated that the chances of other commercial exploitation by the LIGBANK mechanism are high. The use of the 'additional contribution' funding model has been a powerful tool which has allowed the participating academics to deliver a very significant greater amount of research than was anticipated at the start of the programme. The very strong if interaction between LIGBANK staff (circa 30 early stage and experienced researchers) with >100 other scientists in the 8 groups in many cases enabled the LIGBANK research goals to be investigated ahead of schedule at to allow, if necessary, appropriate programme modification. The industrial partner, Radleys, sees LIGBANK and one of the most successful collaborations that it has been involved in. Their contribution - to provide equipment for multiple 'high throughput' screening through multi-reactors proceeded seamlessly. The company believes that its involvement in the project has improved its profile in Europe and increased its sales base. Cook&Kaye, the web developer associated with LIGBANK have provided a functional and user friendly web site and database: http://www.ligbank.com. In order to attain a system that can operate independently from community support it was necessary to remove the option for central storage of ligands as this generated too greater strain on resources (constant updates of shipping regulations / security procedures were required). In its final form, the site overhead costs are at a level where they can be supported by one of the contractors. It appears that the utility of public ligand banks will be in the furtherance of scientific research, not in income generation. The availability of the European Ligand Bank has been widely advertised and this has resulted in a steadily increasing membership that as of early 2007 approaches 100. It can be anticipated that the LIGBANK facility will find significant utility if this number continues to grow at its present rate. Related documents Final Report - LIGBANK (The European Ligand Bank: An Innovation Facility)
