CABB Group and XNA Pharma article links DCA route to oligonucleotide purity

CABB Group, with XNA Pharma, presents an article on why dichloroacetic acid (DCA) quality determines oligonucleotide synthesis performance. The piece, authored by Dr Christian Schulz of CABB and Professor Tobias Pöhlmann of XNA Pharma, focuses on how the DCA manufacturing route influences purity. It appears in the Sep/Oct 2026 issue of SpecChem Online.

Key facts

Market context

Dichloroacetic acid is a small chlorinated carboxylic acid used as a building block and reagent in fine and specialty chemical synthesis. In oligonucleotide manufacturing, it is used in the deprotection and detritylation steps of solid-phase synthesis, so impurities carried in the reagent can affect the purity of the final therapeutic or diagnostic strand. Demand for high-purity grades is driven mainly by the pharmaceutical sector, particularly the growing antisense, siRNA and other nucleic acid drug pipelines, along with research and diagnostic uses. For buyers, the production route and the impurity profile it leaves behind are often as important as the nominal assay. Tighter specifications can narrow the pool of qualified suppliers, shift purchasing toward producers with documented process control, and influence pricing for premium pharmaceutical-grade material relative to technical grades.

Source: official release on cabb-chemicals.com. Summary and context written by Market Krystal.