Automation in medicinal chemistry

The implementation of appropriate automation can make a significant improvement in productivity at each stage of the drug discovery process, if it is incorporated into an efficient overall process. Automated chemistry has evolved rapidly from the 'combinatorial' techniques implemented in many industrial laboratories in the early 1990's which focused primarily on the hit discovery phase, and were highly dependent on solid-phase techniques and instrumentation derived from peptide synthesis. Automated tools and strategies have been developed which can impact the hit discovery, hit expansion and lead optimization phases, not only in synthesis, but also in reaction optimization, work-up, and purification of compounds. This article discusses the implementation of some of these techniques, based especially on experiences at Millennium Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Ltd.