EAST LYME — Research involving a Niantic company is exploring how to identify the origins and processing history of chemicals made in a continuous stream, rather than in separate batches.
The Day’s business editor Lee Howard reports that John Jasper, who leads Molecular Isotope Technologies LLC, worked with collaborators from AstraZeneca, Stratum Reservoir Isotech and Harvard University on a 15-month investigation into continuous-flow production. The newspaper’s October 17 account describes a potential extension of methods already used to authenticate pharmaceutical materials.
The distinction matters because a batch has a defined beginning and end, while continuous production keeps materials moving through a process. The Day reports that the researchers found isotope-pattern characteristics in continuous-flow production similar to those previously identified in batches. Jasper told the newspaper the approach could help manufacturers follow raw materials and better assess reaction yields.
Those are potential applications, not a finding that every industrial process can now be traced or that a new commercial service has launched. The full new paper was not available for inspection during this review; the account of its findings is attributed to The Day.
The American Chemical Society’s indexed publication record identifies the study as “The Batch Nature of Continuous Flow Production via Natural-Abundance Stable Isotopes,” with Jasper and nine co-authors, in Organic Process Research & Development. Its September listing predates the newspaper’s report; the research was not first published October 17.
The company’s own background pages describe its existing approach as measuring naturally occurring, nonradioactive stable-isotope patterns in materials. It distinguishes product authentication — identifying material sources — from process authentication, which examines the effects of raw materials and reaction steps. The company says those methods serve pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing, including process consistency and patent protection.
Jasper founded the company in 1999 and is its chief scientific officer, according to its biography. The business identifies its location as Niantic. The new reporting places the local firm’s work within a broader manufacturing question, without establishing new hiring, a facility expansion or a regulatory endorsement.