Automated synthesis: current platforms and further needs

• Published in: Drug discovery today Vol. 25; no. 11; pp. 2006 - 2011
• Main Authors: Wang, Zheng, Zhao, Wei, Hao, Ge-Fei, Song, Bao-An
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2020
• ISSN: 1359-6446; 1878-5832
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2020.09.009

[Display omitted] •Automated platforms facilitate organic synthesis study.•Software and configuration are essential for automated platforms of synthesis.•Robotic systems represented a milestone on the road to fully autonomous chemical synthesis.•Automated synthesis could relieve chemists of manual tasks.•Artificial intelligence and deep learning would be useful for the development of synthesis automation. Organic synthesis is a vital process that is a mainstay of drug discovery. However, traditional manual-based approaches to organic synthesis might not be economical, especially in a research environment where budgets are increasingly restricted and the effective use of manpower and materials is crucial. Hence, there is a strong interest in automating the synthesis process, resulting in a growth in synthesis automation, especially of systems and configuration. Here, we systematically summarize recently developed automated systems for organic synthesis. This review will be useful for computational scientists aiming to develop novel tools and also for non-specialists and students to understand the frontier of automated synthesis.