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Synthetic Biology

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary science that involves using principles from disciplines such as engineering, molecular biology, cell biology, and systems biology. It involves remodeling existing organisms from nature or constructing completely new synthetic organisms for applications such as protein or enzyme production, bioremediation, value-added macromolecule production, and the addition of desirable traits to crops, to name a few.
Golden rice
Golden rice is a genetically modified...

Woodward–Hoffmann Selection Rules and Microscopic Reversibility

Woodward–Hoffmann Selection Rules and Microscopic Reversibility

Electrocyclic reactions, cycloadditions, and sigmatropic rearrangements are concerted pericyclic reactions that proceed via a cyclic transition state. These reactions are stereospecific and regioselective. The stereochemistry of the products depends on the symmetry characteristics of the interacting orbitals and the reaction conditions. Accordingly, pericyclic reactions are classified as either symmetry-allowed or symmetry-forbidden. Woodward and Hoffmann presented the selection criteria for...

SN2 Reaction: Stereochemistry

S_N2 Reaction: Stereochemistry

In an SN2 reaction, the nucleophilic attack on the substrate and departure of the leaving group occurs simultaneously through a transition state. As the nucleophile approaches the substrate from the back-side, the configuration of the substrate carbon changes from tetrahedral to trigonal bipyramidal and then back to tetrahedral, leading to an inversion in the configuration of the product.
If the substrate is an achiral molecule at the α-carbon, the inversion of configuration is not...

Phase I Reactions: Reductive Reactions

Phase I Reactions: Reductive Reactions

Phase I biotransformation reductive reactions are chemical processes that modify drugs by introducing or revealing polar functional groups via reduction. Enzymes called reductases catalyze these reactions, playing a pivotal role in drug metabolism by transforming lipophilic drugs into more polar, water-soluble metabolites for easy excretion. An essential type of reductive reaction is the carbonyl group reduction, where aldehydes and ketones are reduced to alcohols. An example is the...

Synthesis and Decomposition Reactions

Synthesis and Decomposition Reactions

Synthesis and decomposition are two types of redox reactions. Synthesis means to make something, whereas decomposition means to break something. The reactions are accompanied by chemical and energy changes.

SN1 Reaction: Stereochemistry

S_N1 Reaction: Stereochemistry

This lesson provides an in-depth discussion of the stereochemical outcomes in an SN1 reaction.
In the first step of an SN1 reaction, the bond between the electrophilic carbon and the leaving group ionizes to generate the carbocation intermediate. The second step of the mechanism is the nucleophilic attack.
In the formed carbocation, the positively charged carbon is sp2 hybridized with a trigonal planar geometry. As all the three substituents lie on the same plane, a plane of symmetry for the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 13, 2025

Rapid One-step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues

Rapid One-step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues

Published on: February 17, 2017

Retrosynthetic Simplicity.

Mark D Levin¹

¹Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

Synlett : Accounts and Rapid Communications in Synthetic Organic Chemistry

|September 9, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Retrosynthetic simplicity offers a new way to evaluate chemical reactions. This metric favors reactions that are easier to plan, simplifying complex molecular synthesis and skeletal editing.

Keywords:

heterocycles methodology retrosynthesis simplicity skeletal editing

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Last Updated: Jun 13, 2025

Rapid One-step Enzymatic Synthesis and All-aqueous Purification of Trehalose Analogues

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Published on: February 17, 2017

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Area of Science:

Synthetic organic chemistry
Chemical methodology development

Background:

Evaluating the efficiency and practicality of synthetic routes is crucial in organic chemistry.
Current evaluation metrics often focus on yield and atom economy, but may not capture planning complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

Introduce and advocate for retrosynthetic simplicity as a key metric for evaluating chemical reactions.
Analyze recent skeletal editing methods using this new metric.

Main Methods:

Defining and applying the concept of retrosynthetic simplicity.
Critically analyzing published synthetic methods, particularly those involving skeletal editing.

Main Results:

Demonstrated that retrosynthetic simplicity provides a valuable perspective for assessing synthetic strategies.
Identified examples where retrosynthetically simple reactions offer significant advantages.

Conclusions:

Retrosynthetic simplicity should be considered alongside traditional metrics when evaluating chemical transformations.
Favoring retrosynthetically simple reactions can lead to more efficient and predictable synthesis design.