Thanks for this. Always keen to learn from older startups but I was unable to find the company you're referring to -- any idea as to the name?
If the article is correct, high costs for building and maintaining the "Amazon for chemicals" were the primary cause of failure.
Many great ideas are a matter of when, not if. Knowing when to launch is as critical for entrepreneurs as is knowing when to buy for investors.
A modern Chemdex might thrive like the modern Webvan (ie Instacart) because if costs were the cause of death, a cloud infrastructure would address this issue.
Obviously, this is a very different model from the ARM model.
Hopefully one of these comparisons can offer helpful insights.