Organic synthesis

Construction of organic compounds through controlled transformations of simpler precursors.

A total synthesis constructs a target compound from simpler starting materials through a planned sequence of chemical reactions. For a complex target, success includes the required connectivity and stereochemistry, not merely the elemental formula or an approximate mass.

Tropinone provides a classic strategic example: compatible small precursors can assemble a bridged framework through a coordinated sequence, rather than making every ring separately.^[ref] A route's value also depends on selectivity, yield, operational reliability and how easily structural identity can be established. “Total” does not require that every carbon atom begin as an element.

Working backward from a target to identify bonds, functional-group changes and simpler precursors that correspond to plausible forward reactions. Tracking atoms and stereochemistry tests a proposed disconnection.

Assigning the origin and destination of atoms through a synthetic route. carbon counts and the positions of surviving carbonyls expose chain-length and ring-connectivity errors.