Super-fast automated synthesis promises to make chemistry accessible to many more

Chemists behind Lego-like automated synthesis of complex organic molecules have unveiled the next generation of this technology , cutting cycle times down by an order of magnitude from 30 hours to just three. ‘To date, this approach has been limited because each carbon–carbon bond-forming step takes about a day,’ wrote the team led by Martin Burke at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Over the last decade, Burke’s group has pioneered this ‘snap-and-go’ approach to synthesis, weaving together complex organic structures using Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions and N-methyliminodiacetic acid (Mida)-protected boron as the linchpin.