PRODUCT INTELLIGENCE
Product Intelligence
Whether a product is worth pursuing is settled by five questions we answer before it ever reaches an overseas buyer. The order matters: each answer constrains the next. This is how Unibest selects products — and the basis on which we commit to customers.
The export decision chain
Give it a CAS number or product name, and it unfolds through these five modules — 42 structured fields in total.
Product Identity & Classification
Product Identity & Classification
What am I actually selling?
Mis-classification is common: a grade filed as a formulation may actually be bought as a linker. Get identity wrong and the next four modules inherit the error.
Applications & API Opportunities
Applications & API Opportunities
Who buys it, and what do they build with it?
Tracing the grade upstream to the end drug identifies who actually has budget — instead of spraying generic outreach.
Synthesis & Supply Feasibility
Synthesis & Supply Feasibility
Where does the goods come from, and can it be trusted?
Understanding the route separates real manufacturers from traders; yield and impurity profiles decide whether a quote can be honoured.
Regulatory & Trade Compliance
Regulatory & Trade Compliance
Can it legally ship, and at what cost?
Controlled status, dangerous-goods classification and destination rules decide whether a shipment is viable, surcharged, or off the table.
Market & Pricing Intelligence
Market & Pricing Intelligence
How should it be priced?
Only after the first four are settled can pricing be rational: per-gram vs per-kilo, whether compliance cost must be loaded, and which buyers merit tiered pricing.
Field system (42)
Field names are shared with our internal product records so that inside and outside tell the same story. Module 5 carries no structured fields — it produces a judgement, not data.
Confidence levels
Every field carries a confidence level. Anything marked “to verify” never enters the record unconfirmed — it must be checked item by item with the factory or customer.
High
Cross-verified against authoritative public databases
Medium
Consistent across public sources but not directly attested
To verify
Single-source or inferred — requires human confirmation
Product category dictionary (14 classes)
This is the material view — what the substance is — which differs from the four delivery-based categories on the site: the same material can travel a different delivery path. The table maps the two so you always know which catalogue to look in.
| Material category | Mapped catalogue |
|---|---|
| Raw MaterialsStarting-point materials, mostly used upstream in synthesis | On request |
| Fine Chemicals | Pharmaceutical Intermediates |
| Advanced IntermediatesN-1 / N-2 fragments close to the API structure | Pharmaceutical Intermediates |
| Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients | APIs |
| Pharmaceutical Excipients | Excipients |
| Amino Acids / Protected Amino Acids | On request |
| Polypeptide | On request |
| Base / Nucleic Acid / Nucleotide | On request |
| Cell Culture Medium | On request |
| Vitamin | On request |
| Plant Extracts | On request |
| Food Additive | On request |
| Finished Dosage Formulation | Formulation Licenses |
| Others | On request |
A worked example: what the five modules look like
A textbook case of a filing error that changes the entire sales approach: it was once filed as a formulation, while it is in fact a heterobifunctional PEG linker for PROTAC / ADC work.
Classification correction: The identity module re-classified it from “FDF” to “Advanced Intermediates”, because public sources uniformly define it as a functionalised PEG linker used in PROTAC design, ADCs, bioconjugation and delivery-vector modification. That single change rewrites target customers, factory selection, compliance path and pricing model.
- A short-chain PEG (one ethylene glycol unit) with a primary amine at one end and an azide at the other — small-molecule, achiral, heterobifunctional.
- The two termini let it do two jobs at once: amide coupling at the amine end and azide–alkyne click chemistry at the azide end.
| CAS No. | 464190-91-8 |
|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C₄H₁₀N₄O |
| Molecular weight | 130.15 |
| EINECS No. | 892-603-8 |
| Product category | Advanced Intermediates |
- It is not an end product but a connector embedded into someone else's molecule — buyers use it to build PROTACs, ADCs, peptide/protein conjugates and diagnostic probes.
- Target buyers are therefore anyone with a conjugation pipeline: innovative pharma and biotechs, ADC-focused originators and generics makers, conjugation service CDMOs, and high-end bio/diagnostic reagent suppliers.
- The pitch is not price but the modular design freedom the bifunctional structure buys — plus batch consistency on metal residues, moisture and azide content.
| Primary use | Short-chain PEG-based azide–amine bifunctional crosslinker, used as a PROTAC / ADC linker and for bioconjugation |
|---|---|
| Downstream products | PROTAC molecules, antibody–drug conjugates, peptide / protein conjugate drugs, oligonucleotide conjugates, diagnostic probes |
- The route itself is short (typically 3–4 steps): halogenation of diethylene glycol → azide introduction via NaN₃ substitution → hydroxyl activation → amination to the amine product.
- The real barrier is not route complexity but the azide: NaN₃ handling and azide-bearing waste treatment are genuine safety and environmental costs.
- Three questions separate real producers from traders: is the azidation and amination in-house, are single-step and overall yields available, and can NMR / HPLC / LC-MS support a typical COA and impurity profile.
| Reaction types | Nucleophilic substitution (SN2), halogenation / sulfonylation activation, amination |
|---|---|
| Key raw materials | Diethylene glycol, 2-(2-hydroxyethoxy)ethyl chloride, NaN₃, NaI, TsCl, ammonia / organic amines |
| Process steps | Typically 3–4 steps |
- On safety: multiple SDS classify it as an ordinary hazardous chemical (GHS07, signal word Warning), with UN number and DG class commonly listed as N/A.
- Whether it moves as non-DG is ultimately decided by the forwarder and destination rules — confirm before bulk sea freight to avoid terminal rejection.
- Intended use drives compliance depth: a research intermediate versus a material written into an API filing differ by an order of magnitude in documentation and audit burden — which must be loaded into the quote.
| GHS hazard pictogram | GHS07 |
|---|---|
| GHS signal word | Warning |
| DMF / CEP / GMP | A standalone DMF / CEP is generally not mandatory; where the material enters a customer process a basic GMP system (ISO 9001 or pharmaceutical-intermediate GMP) is expected |
| Transport conditions | Ambient temperature, sealed against moisture, away from heat and strong light; avoid contact with strong reducing agents, strong acids or metal powders |
- A niche advanced intermediate whose demand sits in pharma and biomaterials R&D — modest volume, but high technical and hazardous-material barriers mean it never prices like a bulk commodity.
- Before quoting, establish intended use (research reagent vs process intermediate) and scale — that decides whether the quote is per-gram or per-kilo.
- For project-based buyers with downstream scale-up potential, build tiered pricing into the first quote — trading future volume discounts for a long-term relationship.
Price ranges, cost structure and quoting strategy in this module are not disclosed publicly. The full report provides tiered ranges and negotiation guidance, shared only in commercial discussions.
Where this intelligence stops
- The sample contains no customer, end-customer or supplier information.
- No price ranges or quoting strategy are disclosed — pricing intelligence is commercially confidential and shared only in agreed commercial discussions.
- The compliance module presents public chemical properties and general filing requirements only; it is not legal advice.
- Molecular structures and physico-chemical constants follow public databases such as PubChem; fields marked “to verify” must be confirmed item by item with the factory or customer.
Want this run on your product?
Send us a CAS number or product name. You can raise an RFQ directly, and we will return the key intelligence summary alongside the quote — in particular classification, downstream application and regulatory threshold, which usually decide the shape of the deal.