Making a complex organic molecule generally involves a long series of reactions and purification steps to build it piece by piece. Much more efficient would be to simply throw all of the components into a flask at the same time, combining them at a stroke.
Romano Orru and his colleagues at the Free University Amsterdam in the Netherlands have now united an unprecedented eight molecular fragments — without intermediate purification steps — to create a complex 'druglike' compound.
Their synthesis has three stages — each designed not to interfere with chemical groups incorporated in previous steps — and lasts for almost three days. But the end product comes out of the flask with an overall yield of 24%, impressive for a synthesis that involves forming nine new chemical bonds.
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Chemistry: A one-pot shot. Nature 460, 555 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/460555b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/460555b