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Updated: Mar 1, 2026

Versatile CO2 Transformations into Complex Products: A One-pot Two-step Strategy
Published on: November 9, 2019
Molecular Complexity and Retrosynthesis
1Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc , 900 Ridgebury Road, P.O. Box 368, Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877, United States.
Abstract:
An atom-environment complexity measure, CA, to assess local changes in complexity during synthetic transformations is described. The complexity measure is based on applying Shannon's equation to the number and diversity of paths up to two bonds in length emanating from an atom node. The method requires no explicit accounting for bond type, stereochemistry, ring membership, symmetry, or molecular size. CA varies with expectation across a number of basic reaction examples and may identify the key disconnections to guide retrosynthesis.
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