ST. LOUIS, Oct. 9 — Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (Nasdaq: SIAL – News) announced today that it has acquired Advanced Separation Technologies Inc. (Astec), a chiral chromatography business located in Whippany, NJ. The addition of Astec will enhance Sigma-Aldrich’s Research Specialties business unit’s chiral chromatography capabilities and product line, enabling the company to better support the analysis and purification of chiral compounds important to the pharmaceutical, food, beverage and cosmetics industries. With annual revenues of roughly $2 million, the late-year acquisition will not have a material impact on the Company’s sales, but is expected to help the Company meet its growth goals over the next several years and to be neutral to earnings in 2006, with no initial charges. Terms of the purchase, which were not disclosed, were paid in cash. Astec develops and manufactures chiral chromatography media and columns. Chiral chromatography is used to resolve chiral compounds from racemic mixtures into pure enantiomers. It is often the method of choice for analysis and purification of chiral compounds in research, development, production and quality control. “In addition to a wide range of proprietary chiral chromatography products, the acquisition of Astec brings the specialized knowledge of chiral separations embodied in its people,” commented Russel Gant, Vice President for Sigma-Aldrich’s chromatography manufacturing site in Bellefonte, PA. “This enables our Research Specialties business to continue to expand the value we deliver to the scientific community.”