ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS IN THE AGE OF COMPUTERS

The computer affords four areas of interest to synthetic chemists: (1) storage and retrieval of information; (2) complex calculations of shape and reaction dynamics; (3) artificial intelligence (AI) to solve synthetic and analytical problems; (4) overall direction of multiple laboratory experiments. Our work began 30 years ago initiating molecular geometry calculations to match experimental results. The explosive growth of computer power since will be illustrated. Synthesis design (as AI) requires an efficient protocol to search huge trees. The SYNGEN program is based on simplification and systematization, first of skeletal dissection, then of structure and reaction characterization, for generation of optimal synthesis routes. The program will be described and its future development outlined. Finally, a perspective on the future of all four areas will be sketched, noting the necessary attendant growth in systematic use by chemists and in sympathetic interfaces by software designers.