Catalysis in medicinal chemistry

Abstract

The advent of transition-metal catalysis (and likewise, bio-catalysis, photoredox-catalysis and organo-catalysis, etc.) promises to greatly increase access to diverse chemical matter in medicinal chemistry, but new catalytic reactions often fail to deliver product in applied synthesis. In order to deliver on the promise of catalysis, we need to learn how to use it to prepare the types of molecules that are relevant in biological systems. The dimensionality of trying to understand the rules for what causes catalysis to fail on diverse new substrates is a daunting problem that requires systematic, simplified thought. This perspective suggests an organized course of action to enable the generation of data to understand how to turn on catalysis for efficient synthesis of diverse molecules in medicinal chemistry.