Benchling Brings Chemistry and Biology Together on One R&D Platform, Adds Chemistry Reactions and Predictive Models

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Benchling today announced its expansion into chemistry, bringing chemistry and biology together on one connected platform for scientific research and development. As part of this expansion, Benchling is launching Reactions, a new capability for planning and modeling single-step synthesis, and adding predictive models for small molecule R&D from Inductive Bio.

For more than a decade, Benchling has been the market leader at large molecule R&D. As research has evolved, therapeutic modalities are increasingly crossing the boundary between biology and chemistry. In addition, advances in AI create new opportunities to learn from data across the entire R&D organization.

This makes a connected, structured data foundation more important than ever. That's why Benchling is bringing molecules and reactions together with experiments, biological results, and computational predictions, so teams work across modalities in one system, and put their scientific data to work with AI.

Expanding Benchling for chemistry

Chemistry moves in a tight, iterative loop: decide what to make, determine how to make it, synthesize and characterize it, test it, learn, and repeat. But the data behind that loop often lives across disconnected tools, making it hard to understand how a molecule was made and performed, and what to do next.

Reactions is an important step in a broader effort to bring more of the chemistry workflow into Benchling, beginning with the foundational workflows chemists use every day.

Reactions is built on the same structured platform as the rest of Benchling. Chemists can search across reactions and notebook entries, while every molecule stays linked into the customer's broader scientific record, connecting synthesis with the experiments, results, and other scientific context around it.

A chemist designing a new analog can search related molecules and past reactions, plan synthesis with automatically calculated stoichiometry, account for salts and solvates, and capture the resulting product in the same scientific record.

When that molecule moves into testing, its history stays connected. Teams trace how it was made, see its experimental and biological results, compare it with related chemistry, and carry those insights into the next design decision.

With Reactions, teams can:

• Plan synthesis with less manual work. Sketch single-step reactions directly or bring them in from existing reaction files, like ChemDraw, then automatically calculate stoichiometry and quantities as reaction conditions change.
• Work with chemically meaningful forms. Use shared salt and solvate libraries and account for salt forms during reaction planning.
• Learn from chemistry the team has already done. Find past reactions by chemical structure or similarity, then narrow results by reactants, products, solvents, catalysts, and reaction role.
• Work with molecules alongside their synthesis history. Capture and find molecular structures in Benchling alongside the reactions in which they were made or used.
• Keep the molecule's story connected. Automatically link reactions to compounds, experiments, and biological results so synthesis history and downstream performance can be explored together.

Bringing predictions into the design cycle

Benchling Model Hub brings computational predictions into that decision-making loop, alongside the experimental data scientists already use. As we expand our support for small molecule R&D, we're also bringing more chemistry-focused scientific models into Model Hub.

Inductive Bio's ADMET prediction models enable any chemist using Benchling to predict the chemical and pharmacokinetic properties that determine whether a molecule can become a viable drug. Inductive Bio's models are independently validated by three consecutive first place performances in the OpenADMET blind prediction challenges.

Scientists can register proposed molecules in Benchling, run predictions before physical ADMET testing, and compare those predictions with experimental results from compounds they've already made. That combined evidence helps teams make better decisions about what to synthesize next and move through design cycles faster.

We're just getting started

Learn more about Benchling Chemistry and our broader investment in the space:

• Come find us at booth #203 at ACS Fall 2026 on August 23–27, 2026
• Join us at Benchtalk in Boston or London
• Register for our Chemistry webinar on September 1, 2026

Chemistry is currently in limited availability. Request access here: benchling.com/chemistry-la-signup.

About Benchling

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D, unifying scientific data and automating workflows to accelerate discovery and development. Trusted by more than 1,300 companies worldwide, from pioneering startups to global leaders like Merck, Moderna, and Sanofi, Benchling gives scientists a single place to capture, connect, and act on data across the entire R&D lifecycle. With Benchling AI, agents and models work directly inside scientific workflows, grounded in structured data. The result is faster teams, better molecules, and breakthroughs that reach the world sooner.

SOURCE Benchling