Organic synthesis is one of the more beautiful activities of modern science. Synthetic chemists attempt to devise laboratory syntheses for target molecules. While sometimes the targets have interest only in that the structures are unique or challenging, most of the time the synthetic targets have some known, practical importance -- such as pharmacological activity.

One interesting approach to synthetic chemistry is retrosynthesis [local] (and related pages from the table of contents at that site).

Interesting efforts are underway to use computers to assist in the design of syntheses. The LHASA system is one such example.

An example of the issues to address during the development of a synthesis [local] appears at the Towson site.