Chemical Laboratory Technicians work on the design and synthesis of compounds (organic, inorganic and bioorganic). Use manual synthesis techniques and automatic synthesizers, chemical characterization, chromatographic (GC/MS, HPLC, HPLC/MS) and spectroscopic (NMR) techniques, advanced purification and optimization methods, solid phase microextraction (SPME), and electronic sensors, as well as other chemical synthesis processes derived from new scientific advances or the development of instrumental analysis.

Often, their work is aimed at carrying out physical, chemical and microbiological analysis and tests of samples from quality control, production, or registry studies, in addition to collaborating in the development and improvement of analytical methods to reduce response time or increase the quality of results.

This professional profile can be found both in the process of drug discovery developing research in the field of combinational chemistry and automatic screening techniques (HTS, High Throughput Screening) in order to obtain new materials (e.g. superconductors), developing phytosanitary products, pigments, polymers and catalysts; as well as in companies dedicated to the perfumery and cosmetics sector that focus their research activities on sensory analysis and their knowledge of raw materials and aromatic substances.

• Select and control the laboratory equipment and instruments necessary to carry out the tests. In collaboration with information technology specialists, ensure the connection between the instruments and the data collection systems.
• Control the raw materials and the reagents that arrive at the laboratory, obtaining the corresponding certificates of analysis from the supplying companies.
• May prepare chemical solutions for use in materials processing, following standard formulas or experimental procedures.
• Carry out combinatorial synthesis for internal or external R&D projects in an environment of good laboratory practices.
• Take part in the design, synthesis, characterization, mass purification and quality control of chemical products, applying the appropriate technique in each case: synthesis systems, high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HLPC/MS), ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-VIS) or chromatographic techniques, among others.
• Perform the dissolution, aliquotation and weighing of the final products and oversee removing organic solvents from series of compounds using specific evaporators.
• Evaluate product composition in order to select production standards and ensure subsequent formulation adjustment and finishing work.
• Document all production incidents and keep a record of all the data collected during the process.
• Calculate the yields obtained during the synthesis and participate in solving the problems that appear during the process.
• Participate in the management of laboratory waste, and in the cleaning and maintenance of equipment and facilities.
• Take part in the design and optimization of organic processes, using parallel synthesis equipment applied in order to obtain new synthetic routes and work methodologies.
• Work closely with the people responsible for the study or project in order to identify opportunities for high-performance methodologies, interacting with teams from other disciplines, such as medical chemistry, biology, and computational chemistry.

Regulated training and graduates

• Professionalism Certificate: Microbiological and biotechnological tests (Level 3)
• Professionalism Certificate: Chemical Analysis (Level 3)
• Professional Training Course(s) in the field of Chemistry - Intermediate Level: Laboratory Activities
• Professional Training Course(s) in the field of Chemical Professional Families - Advanced Level: Laboratory for analysis and quality control
• Professional Training Course(s) in the field of Chemical Professional Families - Advanced Level: Pharmaceutical, biotechnological and Related Product Production
• Grau: Bioquímica
• Grau: Bioinformàtica
• Grau: Bioquímica i biologia molecular
• Grau: Biotecnologia
• Grau: Química
• Grau: Enginyeria química
• Grau: Farmàcia

Complementary training

Other specific skills

Analytical thought: Level 3

Concern for order and quality: Level 3

Team work and cooperation: Level 2

Strategic orientation: Level 2

Learning and use of knowledge: Level 2

Scientific research

Individuals who have an affinity for the field of scientific research focus their interest on activities that study different types of organisms and substances in order to obtain valuable products for human beings. A key part of performing this task is the planning and verification of scientific hypotheses through the use of different research designs and techniques. The objective of these searches is the development of new medicines and medical techniques, technological innovation based on the manipulation of cells, molecules and biological agents, as well as the study of cultures in order to improve the characteristics and properties of plants and food.

Specialist in catalysis and catalytic processes

Drug development technician.

Study manager

Pharmaceutical chemist

Computational chemistry technician

• Work hours

  Full day from Monday to Friday, continue or leave.
  It must be considered that this professional profile also supports production and quality control tasks in manufacturing industries in various sectors of economic activity, in order to check the correctness of the formulations made in the production, so that intensive flexible schedules can be established in intervals of 6 to 14 hours and from 14 to 22 hours, as usual manufacturing schedules. An irregular distribution of the working day can be established, so that in certain periods of the year the ordinary working day can be more than nine hours a day.

• Salary

  Salary range: between 21.209 and 30.347 euros annum gross. Median: 25.369 euros annum gross.
  
  Source: Report "Observatory of Jobs and Salaries of the Labour Market. Barcelona Activa", elaborated by ICSA Grupo. April 2015.

• Professional category

  Technician