Total synthesis

Total synthesis is the complete chemical construction of a target molecule from simpler starting materials. It often recreates natural products and tests the reach of synthetic methods.

Retrosynthetic analysis: A planning method that disconnects a target molecule into simpler precursors by reasoning backward from its structure. It turns a target structure into a sequence of candidate starting materials.
Quinine total synthesis: The laboratory construction of quinine, an antimalarial alkaloid, through a sequence of chemical reactions. Its history illustrates how route design and claims of success can become contested.
Robert Burns Woodward: An American organic chemist known for landmark syntheses of complex natural products and for developing molecular-orbital rules. His target-driven syntheses set influential standards for planning and execution.
Chemical synthesis: The deliberate construction of chemical substances from other substances through chemical reactions. Total synthesis is its most demanding form when the target is a complex molecule.
Semisynthesis: The chemical modification of a compound obtained from a natural source or produced biologically. It begins with a complex precursor rather than constructing the entire target from simpler materials.
Protecting group: A temporary substituent that masks a reactive functional group during chemical synthesis. Protecting groups prevent sensitive parts of a growing molecule from reacting at the wrong time.
Vitamin B12 total synthesis: The 1972 chemical construction of vitamin B12 by teams led by Robert Burns Woodward and Albert Eschenmoser. Its extraordinary complexity made it a defining demonstration of collaborative synthesis.
Albert Eschenmoser: A Swiss organic chemist whose work transformed the synthesis and structural understanding of vitamin B12. His collaboration with Woodward joined complementary strategies on the B12 synthesis.
Synthetic method: A general procedure for carrying out a chemical transformation across a class of substrates. Difficult targets have prompted reactions that later became broadly useful methods.
Biosynthesis: The enzyme-mediated production of compounds by living organisms. It reaches natural products through biological pathways rather than a laboratory-designed chemical route.

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