In chemistry a divergent synthesis is a strategy with the aim to improve the efficiency of chemical synthesis. It is often an alternative to convergent synthesis or linear synthesis.
In one strategy divergent synthesis aims to generate a library of chemical compounds by first reacting a molecule with a set of reactants. The next generation of compounds is generated by further reactions with each compound in generation 1. This methodology quickly diverges to large numbers of new compounds
- A generates A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 in generation 1
- A1 generates A11, A12, A13 in generation 2 and so on.
An entire library of new chemical compounds for instance sugars can be screened for desirable properties. In another strategy divergent synthesis starts from a molecule as a central core from which successive generations of building blocks are added. A good example is the divergent synthesis of dendrimers for example where in each generation new monomer reacts to the growing surface of the sphere.
Read more about Divergent Synthesis: Diversity Oriented Synthesis
Famous quotes containing the word synthesis:
“The invention of photography provided a radically new picture-making process—a process based not on synthesis but on selection. The difference was a basic one. Paintings were made—constructed from a storehouse of traditional schemes and skills and attitudes—but photographs, as the man on the street put, were taken.”
—Jean Szarkowski (b. 1925)