Subscribe to RSS
Please copy the URL and add it into your RSS Feed Reader.
https://www.thieme-connect.de/rss/thieme/en/10.1055-s-00000083.xml
Synlett
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1775406
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1775406
letter
Thieme Chemistry Journals Awardees 2024
The Retrosynthesis Mindset: A Problem-Solving Tool
Y.S.L.C. acknowledges the support from the Xiamen University Malaysia Research Fund (Grant No. XMUMRF/2021-C7/IENG/0036) and Kelip-kelip! Center of Excellence for Light Enabling Technologies. J.L.K. acknowledges the financial support of the Narodowe Centrum Nauki (National Science Centre of Poland, NCN) via Sonata (2017/26/D/NZ1/01234) and Opus (2018/29/B/ST4/01498) grants. He further acknowledges the funding from the Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej (Foundation for Polish Science, FNP) for the Homing grant (POIR.04.04.00-00-441F/17) and the Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego (Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, decision no DIR/WK/2018/06). J.V.M. is grateful for the Swiss National Science Foundation PRIMA (Grant No. 193174) supporting her research activities. She further acknowledges the support of the Adolphe Merkle Foundation and the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Bio-Inspired Materials. F.M.F. is grateful for the support of the Ministry of Education - Singapore GAP project ‘ChemPOV’ (GAP502022-02-04), a decentralised grant for Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 (RIE2025) from the National Research Foundation Singapore to support innovation and enterprise initiatives in the National University of Singapore (NUS), administered by the NUS Technology Transfer and Innovation (NUS TTI).
Dedicated to those shaping our retrosynthesis mindset
Abstract
Retrosynthesis refers to the process of deconstructing a target molecule step by step until simpler and commercially available synthetic precursors are identified to develop a valid synthetic pathway. As a powerful problem-solving tool, it has gradually been expanded to other fields of chemistry. The application of a ‘retrosynthesis mindset’ can be relevant beyond chemistry, such as in education, research management, and science advice. In this Letter, we discuss the concept of the retrosynthesis mindset and its implications within and beyond chemistry in the hope of highlighting a broader potential and encouraging the adoption of such a mindset to enhance problem solving and strategic planning across disciplines.
1 Introduction
2 Retrosynthesis Education
3 Retrosynthesis Within and Beyond the Lab
4 Conclusion
Key words
retrosynthesis mindset - problem-solving tool - retrosynthesis - education - research management - science advicePublication History
Received: 15 June 2024
Accepted: 15 August 2024
Article published online:
01 October 2024
© 2024. Thieme. All rights reserved
Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany
-
References
- 1 Corey EJ, Cheng X.-M. The Logic of Chemical Synthesis . Wiley-Interscience; New York: 1995
- 2 Corey EJ. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1991; 30: 455
- 3 Corey EJ. Chem. Soc. Rev. 1988; 17: 111
- 4 Law J, Zsoldos Z, Simon A, Reid D, Liu Y, Khew SY, Johnson AP, Major S, Wade RA, Ando HY. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2009; 49: 593
- 5 Hepler-Smith E. Hist. Stud. Nat. Sci. 2018; 48: 300
- 6 Henry M. Coord. Chem. Rev. 1998; 178–180: 1109
- 7 Kim S, Noh J, Gu GH, Chen S, Jung Y. Chem. Sci. 2024; 15: 1039
- 8 Petzold D, Giedyk M, Chatterjee A, König B. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2020; 1193
- 9 de Souza RO. M. A, Miranda LS. M, Bornscheuer UT. Chem. Eur. J. 2017; 23: 12040
- 10 Mikolajczyk A, Zhdan U, Antoniotti S, Smolinski A, Jagiello K, Skurski P, Harb M, Puzyn T, Polanski J. Green Chem. 2023; 25: 2971
- 11 Loiudice A, Buonsanti R. Nat. Synth. 2022; 1: 344
- 12 Lu D, Zou X, Ye L. Polym. Adv. Technol. 2023; 34: 2097
- 13 Lin K, Xu Y, Pei J, Lai L. Chem. Sci. 2020; 11: 3355
- 14 Lafarge DL, Morge LM, Méheut MM. J. Chem. Educ. 2014; 91: 173
- 15 VanVeller B. J. Chem. Educ. 2021; 98: 2726
- 16 Ridley DD. Information Retrieval: SciFinder, 2nd ed. . John Wiley & Sons; Hoboken: 2009
- 17 SciFindern (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://sso.cas.org/
- 18 Reaxys (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://www.reaxys.com/
- 19 IBM RXN for Chemistry (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://rxn.app.accelerate.science/rxn/
- 20 Vaucher AC, Zipoli F, Geluykens J, Nair VH, Schwaller P, Laino T. Nat. Commun. 2020; 11: 3601
- 21 Thakkar A, Vaucher AC, Byekwaso A, Schwaller P, Toniato A, Laino T. ACS Cent. Sci. 2023; 9: 1488
- 22 SYNTHIATM Retrosynthesis Software (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://www.synthiaonline.com/
- 23 Choo YS. L. ChemRxiv 2024; preprint DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-nmrcx.
- 24 Fung FM, Zimmermann C. Technology-Enabled Blended Learning Experiences for Chemistry Education and Outreach. Elsevier; Amsterdam: 2021
- 25 Han JY, Fung FM. In Digital Learning and Teaching in Chemistry . Dori Y, Ngai C, Szteinberg G. The Royal Society of Chemistry; Cambridge: 2023: 205
- 26 Fung FM, Blanc E, Coumoul X. ACS Pharmacol. Transl. Sci. 2024; 7: 1191
- 27 Kim Y, Han JY, Fung FM. Abstracts of Papers, 2021 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology & Education (TALE) 2021; 910
- 28 Ng BJ. M, Han JY, Kim Y, Togo KA, Chew JY, Lam Y, Fung FM. J. Chem. Educ. 2022; 99: 708
- 29 Ball P. Nature 2015; 528: 327
- 30 Carbonell P, Planson A.-G, Fichera D, Faulon J.-L. BMC Syst. Biol. 2011; 5: 122
- 31 Cadeddu A, Wylie EK, Jurczak J, Wampler-Doty M, Grzybowski BA. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014; 53: 8108
- 32 About DORA (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://sfdora.org/about-dora/
- 33 CoARA - Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://coara.eu/
- 34 Schmid SL. Mol. Biol. Cell. 2017; 28: 2941
- 35 Chamorro-Premuzic T. Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? Harvard Business Review, 2013 (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://hbr.org/2013/08/why-do-so-many-incompetent-men
- 36 Hendricks JL, Call ML, Campbell EM. J. Manag. 2023; 49: 1997
- 37 Milić JV, Ehnbom A, Garedew M, Vincent-Ruz P, Schloemer TH, Hodgson GK, Oakley MS, Sasaki K, Chander S, Légaré M.-A, Callmann CE, Bismillah AN, van Osch DJ. G. P, Sanchez V, Boase NR. B, Mambwe D, Coley CW, Deng Y, Betz KN, Sanjosé-Orduna J, Natoli S, Zhang L, Bakulina O, Fereyduni E, Hilario-Martínez JC, Busta L, Hunter A, Park Y, Zadeh FH. iScience 2020; 101442
- 38 Hynes W, Lees M, Müller JM. Systemic Thinking for Policy Making: The Potential of Systems Analysis for Addressing Global Policy Challenges in the 21st Century. OECD Publishing; Paris: 2020
- 39 Elmore RF. Political Science Quarterly 1979; 94: 601
- 40 Fedoroff NV. Cell 2009; 136: 9
- 41 Moomaw WR. Global Policy 2018; 9: 78
- 42 The 17 Goals (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://sdgs.un.org/goals
- 43 Chemistry & Sustainable Development Goals - American Chemical Society (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://www.acs.org/sustainability/chemistry-sustainable-development-goals.html
- 44 YASAS (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://yacadeuro.org/yasas/
- 45 ABC News. ‘Four Scientists Who Became World Leaders’. 2016 (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-07/four-scientists-who-became-world-leaders/7987212
- 46 Dibble D. Systems Thinking Is Leadership (accessed Jun 11, 2024): https://thesystemsthinker.com/%EF%BB%BFsystems-thinking-is-leadership/