History

The company was founded in 1948 by two BASF chemists and initially carried out contract syntheses for the German government, operating from laboratories at Heidelberg University. Following the dynamic growth of its business, the company acuired in 1952 property outside Heidelberg, in what is now the industrial area of the municipality of Dossenheim, to develop its own small production facility.

Thanks to its competitiveness and expertise in niche technologies and markets, "Technochemie Verfahrenstechnik", as it was then known, was soon acuired by other undertakings such as Deutsche Scheidemantel AG (1956), Boots Plc. (1960) and Deutsche Shell AG (1983). Considerable investment was made in plants and buildings, particularly under Shell.

Following Shell´s decision to abandon the fine chemicals sector, Technochemie entered another phase of takeovers by Inspec Plc. (1996), Laporte Plc. (1998) and finally Degussa GmbH (2001). It is now a 100% subsidiary of Degussa and forms part of the Group´s Exclusive Synthesis & Catalysts business unit.

Quality standards

• ISO 9001: 2000
• ISO 14001
• Regularly audited by the FDA
• Holder of Drug Master Files and CEPs
• Production conforming to cGMP

Equipment

• Specialized raw material handling:
  • Bromine, hydrogen, dimethyl sulfate, hydrogen peroxide, aromatic amines, dimethyl formamide, phosphorous oxychloride, lithium aluminum hydride, lithium diisopropyl amide
• Reaction:
  • Mainly glass-lined vessels equipped with distillation units
• Isolation and Drying:
  • Centrifuges (stainless steel and hastelloy), pressure filter (hastelloy), vacuum driers (stainless steel)
• Equipment:
  • Photochemical loop reactor; micronisation unit
• Operating range:
  • Standard operating temperature -10 to +220 °C