title: Computer-aided organic synthesis.
abstract: It is tempting for those in the field of organic synthesis to liken the process of retrosynthesis to a game of chess. That the world chess champion was recently defeated by a computer leads us to think that perhaps new and powerful computing methods could be applied to synthetic problems. Here the analogy between synthesis and chess is outlined. Achievements in the 35-year history of computer-aided synthetic design are described, followed by some more recent developments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, UKE1 4NS. M.H.Todd@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Matthew H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Todd
mesh_terms: D000181:Acrylonitrile / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D015195:Drug Design; D004970:Estrone / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000138:chemical synthesis
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D004970:Estrone; D000181:Acrylonitrile; D016559:Tacrolimus