EMD Chemicals Inc. is the North American specialty chemical affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with sales of over US$ 7 billion, a history that began in 1668 and a future shaped by more than 30,000 employees in 56 countries. Our success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees. We develop, manufacture and supply high quality specialty chemicals for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, cosmetic, automotive, plastic and electronic industries. In pharmaceuticals, we support drug development from R&D to production and offer custom- synthesized active pharmaceutical ingredients, a full-line of pharmaceutical excipients and chromatography resins and silica. We are represented in peptide and oligonucleotide reagents by the Novabiochem® brand, a leading supplier of innovative reagents for solid phase peptide synthesis and combinatorial chemistry including reagents for DNA and RNA synthesis. We also are a leading supplier of Ionic Liquids which is an emerging class of versatile chemicals used as solvents, catalysts, lubricants and electrolytes.