Alfa Aesar was a supplier of reagents and materials for use in research and development, and analysis. The company had facilities in a variety of countries and manufactured many of the chemicals they sold. The company was bought by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2015, having previously existed as part of the Johnson Matthey Fine Chemicals & Catalysts Division. In 2021, Alfa Aesar products were rebranded under the Thermo Scientific brand name.

History

Alfa Aesar was formed from a series of company mergers: Both Lancaster Synthesis and Avocado had close trading links to Alfa at various times prior to the takeover: the organic products sold in Germany through the Alfa-Ventron catalogue were sourced from Lancaster, while Avocado products were distributed both in the US and Germany by the combined Alfa-Aesar. During the late 1970s / early 1980s, Lancaster Synthesis was the primary UK distribution agent for the USA Alfa range, taking this business over after it was relinquished by Aldrich UK. However this relationship was undermined when Alfa-Ventron independently opened its own short-lived sales unit in the Thiokol-Morton offices in Coventry. On June 25, 2015, Johnson Matthey agreed to sell Alfa Aesar for an amount of £256 million to Thermo Fisher Scientific. Johnson Mattey cited that "This is a further step in delivering our strategy to focus on areas where we can apply our expertise in complex chemistry". Thermo Fisher Scientific cited that "The acquisition of Alfa Aesar enhances our existing portfolio of chemicals, solvents and reagents to support virtually every laboratory application – from research, to drug discovery and development, to production, In addition, customers will benefit from greater access to these products through our extensive global commercial reach.". The acquirement was completed at the end of 2015. Johnson Matthey and Thermo Fisher Scientific both made statements, as well as Alfa Aesar.

Manufacturing

The main manufacturing organic chemical facility is located at Heysham, Lancashire, UK. 54.0383°N, -2.9071°W. This has been supplemented by a bulk manufacturing site at Yantai, China.

Product lines

The company supplies a large variety of chemicals for various disciplines including: Alfa Aesar is a major supplier in the research and fine chemicals market offering over 30,000 products - many of which are rare compounds, which are unique to a major catalogue supplier. Alfa Aesar provides materials for drug discovery, materials science and all the essential building blocks for organic synthesis.

Notes and references