An automated approach to efficiently reformat a large collection of compounds

Large-scale screening of small organic compounds has become a standard and essential practice in the early discovery of chemical entities with potential therapeutic use. To effectively support high-throughput screening campaigns, compound collections have to be in suitable formats, which requires a process known as compound reformatting. Here we report our approach to reformat the newly-established chemical repository of a large-scale screening facility at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which comprises more than half a million compounds, mostly from commercial sources. We highlight the timeline for a reformatting process, the importance of standardizing the operational procedures, and the advantages and disadvantages of using automation. The end result of our reformatting process is the concurrent generation of copies for long-term storage, screening, and "cherry-picking"; all of which facilitate compound management and high-throughput screening.