title: Redox economy in organic synthesis.
abstract: "Economy" is referred to as the thrifty and efficient use of material resources, as the principle of "minimum effort to reach a goal." More illuminating is: "the aim to portion one's forces in order to use as little as possible of them to reach a goal." Such statements certainly apply when the goal is to synthesize a complex target molecule. Redox economy then implies the use of as few redox steps as possible in the synthetic conquest of a target compound. While any sort of economy will help to streamline the effort of total synthesis, redox economy addresses a particularly weak area in present-day total synthesis. It is not enough to point out the present deficiencies, rather the purpose of this Review is to serve as a teaching tool for all practitioners of the field by giving and illustrating guidelines to increase redox economy in multistep organic synthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10650 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Noah Z
authors.initials: NZ
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Phil S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Baran
authors.forename: Reinhard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hoffmann