Liverpool ChiroChem (LCC), a company founded at the University of Liverpool, has been acquired by XtalPi, a leading life sciences and new materials R&D platform powered by quantum physics, AI and robotics,
An international chemical technology business, LCC is a pioneer in automated chiral chemistry technologies.
It was founded in 2014 by Professor Jianliang Xiao from the University's Department of Chemistry in conjunction with two of his former PhD students, Dr Jianjun Wu and Dr Paul Colbon, who is now CEO of the company, and Dr Jiwu Ruan, a postdoctoral researcher of the Xiao group.
LCC has established itself as a global leader in high-throughput novel chiral molecule design and synthesis, serving multinational pharmaceutical companies and specialist biotech firms across the US, Europe, and Asia. Its PACE (Parallel Automated Chiral Engine) technology combines AI software with automation, delivering a vast collection of unique, stereodefined, and diverse chiral building blocks, alongside a proprietary billion-scale virtual chiral library.
This strategic merger will enhance XtalPi's ability to explore and synthesize novel chemical space with speed and precision, accelerating innovation for pharmaceutical, materials, agricultural, and specialty chemical applications.
XtalPi's R&D platform integrates quantum physics and AI predictions with large-scale automated chemistry experiments to generate, screen, and validate novel compounds with tailored physiochemical properties and molecular functionalities.
By incorporating LCC's world-leading chiral chemistry expertise into its intelligent autonomous chemistry platform, XtalPi will further broaden its accessible and actionable mega chemical space, propelling the discovery of next-generation therapeutics and materials. LCC's automated synthesis capabilities for chiral molecules highly complement XtalPi's high-precision, high-flexibility robotic workstations, enriching predictive chemistry models and accelerating the translation of computational predictions into tangible compound assets with greater accuracy and efficiency.
The combined entity now operates labs, automation systems, and AI infrastructure in the US, Europe, and Asia. This global footprint offers clients enhanced operational flexibility, enabling secure, geographically segmented project management to meet stringent regional regulations and client-specific security requirements.
Paul Colbon, Chief Executive Officer of LCC, said: "The partnership of LCC and XtalPi creates a platform technology that has the potential to become the most powerful data engine in the world for chemical space exploration, fuelling AI/ML models with large volumes of high-quality data in a fully integrated wet-dry lab cycle. I am delighted to stay on in my position and guide the collaboration between these two excellent teams that already share a common vision of developing tools that enable scientists to deliver impactful innovation."
Xuekun Shi, Chief Operating Officer of XtalPi, commented: "By integrating LCC's world-class chiral chemistry expertise into our AI platform, we are advancing toward an end-to-end solution that redefines how scientists explore and harvest the vast, previously inaccessible chemical space at scale. This convergence of predictive algorithms and high-precision automation, now augmented by LCC's chiral capabilities, will empower our partners to navigate synthesis pathways with greater confidence, reduce wasted iterations, and unlock structurally novel candidates of high potential."
LCC maintains strong links with the University's Department of Chemistry including through R&D collaborations, student placements, visiting talks and project support. Dr
Dr Paul Colbon is also the recipient of last year's Potts Medal, which recognises outstanding contributions to Chemistry.
