EcoSynth (http://www.ecosynth.be) is a private company, founded in 2001 by Dr. Koen Van Aken and Katrien Desmadryl, specialized in value-added services in the field of laboratory scale organic chemistry. Its main area of expertise is the design and implementation of environmentally friendly reaction conditions (reagents, solvents, catalysts etc.). An additional activity is the maintenance of "Organic Chemistry Resources Worldwide" which fits in the "paperless laboratory" strategy and is offered as a service to the organic chemistry community.

Koen Van Aken has about 16 years experience in academic and industrial organic chemistry. He received his Ph.D. at the K.U.Leuven, Belgium in 1993 after which he joined Georgia State University, Atlanta as a postdoctoral associate for over three years. Subsequently, he worked for about four years in an international pharmaceutical company as Senior Scientist. He is (co)author of over 30 publications (9 patents). His main areas of expertise are:

• Information sources for organic chemists
• Automatisation and integration in organic chemistry laboratory
• Combinatorial reaction condition optimalization
• Lead optimalization