Your analytical lab runs hundreds of measurements a week. Each one involves sample receipt, instrument scheduling, data acquisition, processing, review, and documentation — coordinated through emails, shared drives, and institutional memory. ZONTAL Operations transforms these fragmented steps into governed, dynamic workflows that adapt based on experimental outcomes, sample attributes, and expert decisions.
Synthetic chemists requesting structure verification, analytical core teams running high-resolution experiments, lab automation leads configuring method sequences — every role depends on handoffs that break when the person who remembers the protocol is on vacation.
Sample lists drafted in Excel, emailed to instrument operators, results copied back into ELNs. A synthetic chemist requesting NMR + LC-MS structure verification submits the request by email, waits hours for scheduling confirmation, and manually checks each system for results. Every handoff is a potential error and delay point.
When a structure verification fails, what happens next? In most labs, the answer depends on who is available, what they remember, and whether the email reaches the right analytical expert in time. Escalation to the core team for high-resolution NMR and accurate MS/MS is ad hoc — governed by personal relationships, not workflow rules.
By the time results reach the ELN, the workflow context — why this analysis was requested, what conditions were specified, what previous steps preceded it — is lost. Documentation captures the answer but not the scientific reasoning. A lab automation lead configuring the next campaign cannot trace why the previous protocol was designed the way it was.
Every workflow is composed ad hoc. The optimized NMR + LC-MS structure verification protocol that an expert analytical chemist developed — with specific pulse sequences, column conditions, and pass/fail thresholds — cannot be templated, governed, or reused by open-access operators running routine measurements.
ZONTAL Operations composes, executes, and governs end-to-end analytical workflows spanning ELNs, LIMS, instruments, and processing software — replacing manual coordination with dynamic, branching workflows that adapt to experimental outcomes.
Workflows are not static flowcharts — they adapt based on experimental outcomes, sample attributes, and expert decisions. A structure verification that passes routes directly to documentation; a failure triggers escalation to the analytical core team, with high-resolution NMR and accurate MS/MS automatically queued.
Scientists request analyses from within their ELN — Revvity Signals, Benchling, or IDBS. ZONTAL drafts sample lists, assigns instruments based on availability and suitability, and creates logistics tasks — all from a single request. A synthetic chemist submitting a compound for structure verification never leaves their notebook.
Upon data acquisition, ZONTAL triggers automated processing, analysis, and reporting via SciYGears. Structure verification, pass/fail evaluation, and spectral comparison happen without manual intervention — reducing turnaround from days to minutes for routine characterization workflows.
Configurable branching logic throughout the workflow. Automated pass/fail decisions based on analytical outcomes. Failure events trigger alerts, assignment to expert core teams, and additional high-resolution experiments — automatically. An analytical core team lead manages escalations from a governed queue, not an email inbox.
Every workflow step — from ELN request through acquisition, processing, and documentation — is captured in a governed lineage graph. Parent–child–fraction relationships are preserved across synthesis, separation, and characterization steps. A sample's journey from compound registration through chiral purification to final structure confirmation is fully traceable.
Bidirectional integration with ELN, LIMS, and CDS. Instrument scheduling, Lab2Lab logistics, and automation controller coordination — Biosero Green Button Go, synTQ, and Chemspeed. Integration with workflow management solutions like Camunda and Temporal for enterprise-scale orchestration across sites.
From instrument request to documented result — see how workflow orchestration connects ELN integration, automated processing, and AI-assisted analysis.
These are not conceptual diagrams. Each workflow is deployed and running in pharmaceutical R&D labs — orchestrating sample flow, instrument acquisition, automated processing, and governed documentation across systems.
ELN → Acquisition → Auto-Processing → ELN
Synthetic chemist requests verification from ELN. ZONTAL drafts sample lists, schedules NMR and LC-MS instruments, acquires data, and triggers SciYGears auto-processing. Pass/fail evaluation runs automatically. On pass: results documented to ELN. On failure: auto-escalation to the analytical core team — high-resolution NMR and accurate MS/MS are queued, followed by SciYNova CASE-assisted structure elucidation and documentation.
ELN → Screening → Prep Sep → QC → ELN
ELN request triggers chiral method screening with configurable scouting parameters. SciYGears evaluates screening results and selects the best method. Preparative chiral separation executes via synTQ liquid handling. Fraction lineage is tracked through collection, concentration, and LC-MS QC confirmation. Final results document back to ELN with complete parent–child–fraction provenance.
ELN → Triage → Crystallization → XRD → ELN
ELN request initiates sample receipt and crystallinity triage via DSC and optical microscopy. If the sample lacks suitable crystals, the workflow branches to recrystallization screening. After crystal selection, XRD data collection and structure refinement proceed automatically. The complete parent–child lineage — from compound through crystal to refined absolute structure — is governed and documented.
End-to-end workflow orchestration demos — from ELN request through instrument acquisition, automated analysis, and documented results.
ELN request triggers NMR and LC-MS acquisition, SciYGears auto-processing, pass/fail evaluation, and automatic result documentation — no manual handoffs.
Revvity Signals ELN experiment creates an analytical request. ZONTAL routes the sample to instruments, processes results, and documents back to the ELN.
Full walkthrough of the governed automation loop — from sample receipt through multi-instrument acquisition, auto-escalation, and final reporting.
ZONTAL Operations is not a standalone product — it draws on all four ICAD layers. Each principle compounds on the one before, and workflow orchestration requires all four working together.
Operations schedules and acquires data from every connected instrument — NMR spectrometers, LC-MS systems, XRD diffractometers, plate readers, flow cytometers, thermal analyzers, and more — through governed integration factories. Without Integrate, each instrument requires manual file transfer and format conversion.
Sample lineage, parent–child–fraction relationships, and method–instrument associations are maintained in the governed context graph. Operations relies on this graph to route samples, link results to requests, and preserve provenance across workflow steps.
SciYGears auto-processing, spectral comparison, and pass/fail evaluation are Analyze capabilities that Operations invokes at each workflow decision point. Without automated analytical intelligence, branching logic has no data to branch on.
Operations implements the Decide principle's oversight spectrum: fully automated pass/fail for routine measurements, supervised autonomy for complex escalations, and human-in-the-loop approval for regulatory-critical steps. The level of automation is configurable per workflow, per step, per organization.
Workflow orchestration requires all four layers working together. Without governed integration, there is no instrument connectivity. Without scientific context, there is no sample lineage. Without analytical intelligence, there is no automated decision logic. Without configurable oversight, there is no trust.
See how ZONTAL Operations transforms manual experiment coordination into governed, dynamic workflows — from ELN request through automated analysis to documentation.
