Phase 2 – Organic Synthesis & Reaction Optimization
Phase 2 – Organic Synthesis & Reaction Optimization contains 15 topic pages in Pharmaceutical Chemistry.
Learning Objectives
- Explain retrosynthetic analysis as a strategy for synthetic route design.
- Describe how solvent and catalyst selection influence reaction outcome and sustainability.
- Explain the principles of green chemistry as applied to pharmaceutical synthesis.
- Compare the major purification techniques used to isolate synthetic intermediates and final compounds.
- Describe systematic approaches to reaction and yield optimization.
Chapter Navigation
Topics and Topic Groups
Browse the available learning units in this chapter.
Retrosynthetic Analysis
Insert appropriate diagram/illustration here The illustration should depict a simple retrosynthetic tree for a representative drug-like target molecule,...
Synthetic Route Design
Synthetic route design translates a retrosynthetic analysis into a practical, forward-executable sequence of reactions, weighing multiple competing criteria...
Reaction Mechanisms
A thorough understanding of reaction mechanism — the step-by-step electronic description of how bonds are broken and formed during a chemical transformation...
Reaction Optimization
Introduction and Principle Reaction optimization is the systematic process of adjusting reaction parameters — temperature, reaction time, reagent...
Solvent Selection
Solvent selection materially influences reaction rate, selectivity, and yield through its effects on reagent solubility, transition-state stabilisation,...
Catalyst Selection
Catalyst selection determines both the feasibility and the selectivity of many pharmaceutically important transformations, particularly...
Green Chemistry
Green chemistry applies a defined set of principles — first articulated by Paul Anastas and John Warner as the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry — to...
Yield Optimization
Yield optimization applies the reaction optimization principles described above with the specific objective of maximising the proportion of starting...
Purification Techniques: General Principles
Purification is the essential process of separating a desired synthetic product from unreacted starting material, by-products, and reaction impurities, and...
Recrystallization
Recrystallization purifies a solid compound by exploiting the temperature-dependent difference in solubility between the desired compound and its impurities...
Column Chromatography
Column chromatography separates a mixture of compounds according to their differential affinity for a stationary phase (most commonly silica gel) relative...
Flash Chromatography
Flash chromatography accelerates the classical gravity-column technique through the application of moderate air or nitrogen pressure to force the mobile...
Preparative HPLC
Preparative high-performance liquid chromatography scales the analytical HPLC technique described in Phase 3 to isolate milligram-to-gram quantities of...
Distillation
Distillation separates and purifies liquid compounds on the basis of differences in volatility (boiling point), and remains the method of choice for...
Liquid–Liquid Extraction
Liquid–liquid extraction separates compounds on the basis of their differential partitioning between two immiscible liquid phases, most commonly an aqueous...