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Chemical Company Adding Jobs in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A renewable chemicals company is adding 14 new jobs in Lexington. Company officials with Allylix announced the $1.6 million investment Wednesday, which includes expanding its current laboratory space at UK’s Coldstream Research Park.

Allylix uses yeast-based fermentation to produce organic compounds called terpenes, which can be used in a variety of products.

“They can be used as flavors and fragrances, cosmetic chemicals. They’re anti-microbial, they’re anti-viral, they can be pharmaceuticals, they can be biofuels. So a wide-range of different applications,” says company CEO Carolyn Fritz.

Allylix currently has two aroma chemicals on the market – one with an orange fragrance and one with a grapefruit aroma – and Fritz says more products are in development.

The technology behind Allylix was first developed by researchers at the University of Kentucky. Fritz says local funding sources were crucial to Allylix going further.

“It was the Bluegrass Angels, the Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation, and the Commonwealth Seed Fund that gave us our first round of funding. And that’s the toughest round to raise because it’s the highest risk. But they saw we had, they believed in what we could do, and they came in.”

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority has approved Allylix for up to $300,000 in state tax incentives.

Lexington native Brenna Angel anchored local morning newscasts for WUKY through May 13. She joined the station in March 2010 after previously working for WHAS-AM in Louisville.