A Practical Start-Up Guide for Synthetic Chemists to Implement Design of Experiments (DoE)

Experimental design in the synthetic chemistry community primarily focuses on optimizing reaction conditions by modifying one variable at a time (OVAT). Design of Experiments (DoE) methodology, already commonplace in the chemical industry, captures optimal reaction conditions while shrinking the number of experiments required. Additionally, DoE can provide interaction effects between variables that are not captured in OVAT optimizations. Despite the cost- and time-saving benefits that DoE can provide, it has not been widely adopted by the academic community. This start-up guide is the first entry-level manual, designed for synthetic chemists, with worked examples for the practical implementation of DoE methodology in the context of synthetic method development.