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Industry Insights
Market trends, insights, and analysis for the chemical industry.
ArticleChemAbout Editorial Team15 min read
Why Can a Molecule of Just ~31 Amino Acids Reshape Modern Pharma? Reading the Next Blockbuster Through the Chemical Design of Semaglutide
GLP-1 began as one incretin hormone in a physiology textbook; today nearly every major pharma runs a GLP-1 program. Reading the industry through the chemistry of semaglutide: why native GLP-1 (~2-minute half-life) is undruggable, how an Aib substitution + a C18 albumin-binding fatty chain turned it into a once-weekly drug, why ~31 amino acids sits near the edge of SPPS, and why the real moat is process + qualification + supply chain, not the formula. Every key number cited to a primary source. Not medical advice.
Comparison11 min read
CRO vs CMO vs CDMO: What's the Difference? A Guide to the Pharma Outsourcing Value Chain
CRO, CMO and CDMO differ by a letter or two but sit at completely different points on the drug value chain, carry different regulatory responsibility, and run on different business models. A fact-based map of the boundaries, the overlap, and the CRDMO trend now stitching them back together.
ArticleChemAbout Editorial Team14 min read
Why Can Only a Handful of Companies Make Advanced Photoresist? A Deep Dive from Photochemistry to Semiconductor Supply Chains
Photoresist is a translator: it converts optical information into chemical information, then a physical pattern, then an electronic device. Every reduction in exposure wavelength - g-line to i-line to KrF to ArF to EUV - has forced this translator to rewrite itself, from the invention of chemical amplification at IBM in 1982 to today's photon-shot-noise limits at EUV. This deep dive traces the chemistry, the 2019 Japan-Korea export control episode, and why the real moat is process, qualification, data and time - not the formula.
ArticleChemAbout Editorial Team9 min read
Why Does Dimethyl Disulfide (DMDS) Show Up in Refinery, Farm, and Food-Flavor Supply Chains?
DMDS (CAS 624-92-0) is a refinery catalyst presulfiding agent, an EPA-registered soil fumigant, and a FEMA GRAS flavor compound — three separate regulatory regimes under one CAS number. Here's what buyers need to confirm before sourcing it.
ArticleChemAbout Editorial Team9 min read
1,3-Propane Sultone as a Li-ion Electrolyte Additive: How It Builds the SEI, What Battery Grade Really Means, and the Regulatory Record
1,3-Propane sultone (PS, CAS 1120-71-4) appears in almost every high-voltage or high-temperature Li-ion electrolyte recipe. Grounded in first-principles studies and the current ECHA/CLP record, this article covers how PS builds the SEI before the solvent breaks down, the trace parameters that define battery grade, and the regulatory status of a Category 1B carcinogen on the REACH Candidate List.
ArticleChemAbout Editorial Team24 min read
Semiconductor Materials, PFAS Alternatives, Green Methanol, Advanced Polymers, AI-Designed Catalysts: Five Material Directions Worth Tracking Over the Next Five Years
Between 2024 and 2026, some material directions advanced roughly on schedule — silicon carbide, carbon fiber — while others, like PFAS alternatives, green methanol and AI-designed catalysts, show a real gap between what's been announced and what's actually deployed. This piece separates genuine, dated progress from hype and unproven claims across five materials directions, drawing on English, Japanese and German primary sources.
Article1 min read
US Commerce Department Signs $500 Million CHIPS Act R&D Award With SandboxAQ
On 17 June 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce and SandboxAQ signed a definitive $500 million CHIPS Act R&D award to use physics-based AI for discovering new semiconductor-manufacturing chemistries, including PFAS-free alternatives.
Article5 min read
Therapeutic Peptides in 2026: This Year's Breakthroughs
2026 has been a concentrated year for peptide therapeutics. Efficacy reached a new high in late-stage trials, the obesity field moved beyond the incretins to amylin, the oral route reached weight management, and peptide-guided radioligand therapy kept advancing — each point tied to a specific 2025–2026 result.
Article8 min read
What Are Electronic Resins? The Polymers Inside Chips, Substrates, and Circuit Boards
"Electronic resin" is not one material. It is a family of electronic-grade polymers — epoxy molding compounds, laminate resins, build-up films, and photoresists — defined less by what they are made of than by the electrical, thermal, and dimensional numbers they must hit.
ArticleChemAbout Editorial Team4 min read
Asia's Biggest Pharma Show Is Back: A Sourcing Playbook for CPHI & PMEC China 2026
CPHI & PMEC China — 3,600+ exhibitors, 110,000+ visitors — opens 16 June at Shanghai's SNIEC. A practical playbook for buyers: go in with a shortlist, qualify suppliers on the floor, and fix the follow-up before you fly home.
Article5 min read
Why ocean freight rates are surging again: early peak season and tight container capacity
Container spot rates rose sharply in early June 2026 as front-loading, Red Sea diversions, low idle capacity and carrier surcharges compressed available space.
Article6 min read
SINOSURE: what China's export credit insurer actually does
SINOSURE is China's policy-oriented export credit insurer, linking export contracts, buyer credit, country risk, claims and trade finance.