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Chemical synthesis (chemical combination) is the artificial execution of chemical reactions to obtain one or several products.[1] This occurs by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions. In modern laboratory uses, the process is reproducible and reliable.
A chemical synthesis involves one or more compounds (known as reagents or reactants) that will experience a transformation under certain conditions. Various reaction types can be applied to formulate a desired product. This requires mixing the compounds in a reaction vessel, such as a chemical reactor or a simple round-bottom flask. Many reactions require some form of processing ("work-up") or purification procedure to isolate the final product.[1]
The amount produced by chemical synthesis is known as the reaction yield. Typically, yields are expressed as a mass in grams (in a laboratory setting) or as a percentage of the total theoretical quantity that could be produced based on the limiting reagent. A side reaction is an unwanted chemical reaction that can reduce the desired yield. The word synthesis was used first in a chemical context by the chemist Hermann Kolbe.[2]
Strategies
editMany strategies exist in chemical synthesis that are more complicated than simply converting a reactant A to a reaction product B directly. For multistep synthesis, a chemical compound is synthesized by a series of individual chemical reactions, each with its own work-up.[3] For example, a laboratory synthesis of paracetamol can consist of three sequential parts. For cascade reactions, multiple chemical transformations occur within a single reactant, for multi-component reactions as many as 11 different reactants form a single reaction product and for a "telescopic synthesis" one reactant experiences multiple transformations without isolation of intermediates.
Organic synthesis
editOrganic synthesis is a special type of chemical synthesis dealing with the synthesis of organic compounds. For the total synthesis of a complex product, multiple procedures in sequence may be required to synthesize the product of interest, needing a lot of time. A purely synthetic chemical synthesis begins with basic lab compounds. A semisynthetic process starts with natural products from plants or animals and then modifies them into new compounds.
Inorganic synthesis
editInorganic synthesis and organometallic synthesis are used to prepare compounds with significant non-organic content. An illustrative example is the preparation of the anti-cancer drug cisplatin from potassium tetrachloroplatinate.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Vogel, A.I.; Tatchell, A.R.; Furnis, B.S.; Hannaford, A.J.; Smith, P.W.G. (1996). Vogel's Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry (5th ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-582-46236-3.
- ^ Kolbe, H. (1845). "Beiträge zur Kenntniss der gepaarten Verbindungen". Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. 54 (2): 145–188. doi:10.1002/jlac.18450540202. ISSN 0075-4617. Archived from the original on Jun 30, 2023 – via Zenodo.
- ^ Carey, Francis A.; Sundberg, Richard J. (2013). Advanced Organic Chemistry Part B: Reactions and Synthesis. Springer.
- ^ Alderden, Rebecca A.; Hall, Matthew D.; Hambley, Trevor W. (1 May 2006). "The Discovery and Development of Cisplatin". J. Chem. Educ. 83 (5): 728. Bibcode:2006JChEd..83..728A. doi:10.1021/ed083p728.