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—  Prior Art Search & Analysis

Markush Structure Search

A Markush search starts as a chemical structure search and goes further — finding documents with extensive coverage of functional moieties.

  • 4,000+projects delivered
  • 70+clients
  • 12+years in practice
  • 6 yrsaverage engineer experience

That lets you streamline research and development effort, influence ongoing patent litigation, monitor the competition, and strengthen your own intellectual property position.

When to Run a Focused Markush Search

Compounds that text searching will miss

To find important chemical compounds whose common names or IUPAC names never appear in the references — the case where keyword searching quietly fails.

Identify related patents from the structure

To identify related patents on the basis of the molecular Markush structure results rather than nomenclature.

Strengthen another search you are already running

To enhance landscape analysis, freedom-to-operate, patentability and invalidity searches where chemistry is involved.

Why Consider Synoptic IP

More than 1,200 chemical structure searches a year

We run over 1,200 chemical structure searches annually, so the workflow is well established rather than assembled per project.

Comprehensive analysis on paid databases

The analysis is carried out on subscription databases such as STN, not only on what happens to be free.

Experienced structure chemists

Our team includes professionals skilled in interpreting complex chemical structures, which is where most of the judgement in this work sits.

Reports with the detail you need

Reports come with the pertinent information — detected chemical structures, suitable substitutions, coverage information and the rest.

Multiple levels of quality check

Every search passes through multiple-level quality checks before it reaches you.

Free-database structural information too

We also supply structural information available from free sources, including CAS numbers and related specifics.

Client Testimonials

Words From Our Clients

Verified LinkedIn reviews and client correspondence from patent attorneys and in-house IP teams who come back to us project after project.

LinkedIn review
★★★★★

I used Synoptic for a validity search and was pleased with the results. The rates were highly competitive, the deliverable was on time, and the results were as good as (if not better than) other searches I’ve used.

Erin J. FoxErin J. FoxIntellectual Property Counsel · ITWPublic & verified
LinkedIn review
★★★★★

Ankit did a very thorough and professional job on a claim chart assignment for us. He showed great perseverance when things got difficult and was able to get the job done. I would work with him again.

Eric BrownEric BrownIP Consultant · Building Viable Licensing ProgramsPublic & verified
Client email
★★★★★

Thank you — the search was quite helpful. We’ll have your invoice processed promptly.

Patent AttorneyQuarles & Brady · Client since 2018Name withheld
Client email
★★★★★

Thank you for your work on this matter. We were pleased with the search and will consider you for future searches.

Patent AttorneyMerchant & Gould · Client since 2018Name withheld
Client email
★★★★★

We were very pleased with the patentability and FTO report that you produced for us back in November 2024.

Client ContactFrontierBio · Client since 2024Name withheld

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Ankit Saxena, Head of Hi-Tech Patent Research at Synoptic IP
Reviewed ByAnkit Saxena Head of Hi-Tech Patent Research

Founder of Synoptic IP with 15 years in prior art research and patent analysis. Ankit reviews the search methodology behind this service.

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