Chemistry

Retrosynthetic analysis

Stereochemistry

Total synthesis

Accounts of Chemical Research

ConspectusIn The Logic of Chemical Synthesis, E. J. Corey stated that the key to retrosynthetic analysis was a "wise choice of appropriate simplifying transforms" (Corey, E. J.; Cheng, X.-M. The Logic of Chemical Synthesis; John Wiley: New York, 1989). Through the lens of "ideality", chemists can identify opportunities that can lead to more practical, scalable, and sustainable synthesis. The percent ideality of a synthesis is defined as [(no. of construction rxns) + (no. of strategic redox rxns)]/(total no. of steps) × 100. A direct consequence of designing "wise" or "ideal" plans is that new transformations often need invention. For example, if functional group interconversions are to be avoided, one is faced with the prospect of directly functionalizing C–H bonds (Gutekunst, W. R.; Baran, P. S. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 1976; Brückl, T.; et al. Acc. Chem. Res. 2012, 45, 826). If protecting groups are minimized, methods testing the limits of chemoselectivity require invention (Baran, P. S.; et al. Nature 200...

Radical Retrosynthesis