Synthon
In chemistry, a synthon is an imaginary or hypothetical chemical species used in retrosynthetic analysis, a method of breaking apart complicated organic compounds to plan out how to make them with organic synthesis.[1] The term was coined by chemist E. J. Corey, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on synthesis.
Most synthons are too unstable to exist in a real reaction. A real synthesis instead uses a synthetic equivalent for a synthon. For example, Grignard reagents like methylmagnesium chloride (CH3MgCl) are synthetic equivalents of carbanions like methylide (CH−3).
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Corey, E. J. (1967). "General methods for the construction of complex molecules". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 14: 19–38. doi:10.1351/pac196714010019.
