Convergent synthesis

Strategy to improve chemical synthesis

In chemistry a convergent synthesis is a strategy that aims to improve the efficiency of multistep synthesis, most often in organic synthesis. In this type of synthesis several individual pieces of a complex molecule are synthesized in stage one, and then in stage two these pieces are combined to form the final product. In linear synthesis the overall yield quickly drops with each reaction step: A → B → C → D Suppose the yield is 50% for each reaction; the overall yield of D is only 12.5% from A. In a convergent synthesis A → B (50%) C → D (50%) B + D → E (25%) the overall yield of E (25%) looks much better.

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