that specializes in this arena. It is important to work with a company that has significant experience in compound management due to the complexity of tracking not only inventory data, but also compound location, storage conditions, and compound integrity. This experience also is of paramount importance when knowing how to appropriately deal with the wide array of materials handled including, solids, liquids, volatile materials, sticky solids, oils, and gums as well as hazardous, flammable, hygroscopic and toxic compounds. Customers can specify not only the quantity of material but also the exact vial and cap or plate for their specific application. The service provides enormous savings from a time perspective as researchers do not spend their valuable time on weighing hundreds of compounds or getting them into the correct format for their assay. It also dramatically reduces disposal costs since the exact amount of material required can be ordered rather than needing to order e.g. 100 g of material when only 0.1 g is needed for the experiment. The high throughput analytical chemistry component of the company allows rapid validation that compounds are the correct material at the desired purity. While controlled storage conditions minimize degradation, customers may use this service to validate that the material they sent to outsourcing partner originally was correct and pure. Subsequently the service allows re-evaluation of compounds that may have decomposed during long term storage. The purification services complement the analytical services by allowing cost effective, environmentally friendly recovery of partially degraded reactive intermediates and HTS compounds at a fraction of the cost of synthesizing or purchasing these materials. Conferences There are several conferences related to compound management. The best known is Compound Management & Integrity although many chemistry and pharmaceutical conferences include talks or specific sections on the topic. References Drug discovery