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Total synthesis

Welwitindolinone is well worth it

Nature Chemistry volume 4, pages 341–343 (2012)Cite this article

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Recent syntheses of the natural product 3-hydroxy-N-methylwelwitindolinone C isothiocyanate are taken as examples to answer an oft-raised question about the value of total synthesis.

Does the world really need another synthesis of...? is a refrain all too often directed at research in the area of natural product synthesis. This question is, of course, most often asked rhetorically, tacitly implying its own answer: no. Having heard this statement uttered by National Academy Members and first-year graduate students alike, I have bristled at what can only be interpreted as a glib dismissal of a field that has profoundly impacted, and in my opinion will continue to impact, both modern science and society.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: Competing synthetic routes to 3-hydroxy-N-methylwelwitindolinone C isothiocyanate.

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  1. John L. Wood is the A. I. Meyers Professor of Chemistry in the Chemistry Department at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA,

    John L. Wood

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  1. John L. Wood
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Correspondence to John L. Wood.

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Wood, J. Welwitindolinone is well worth it. Nature Chem 4, 341–343 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1335

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