Combinatorial chemistry, fast

Combinatorial chemistry is the branch of the molecular sciences providing concepts and methods for solving problems of molecular optimization fast and efficiently. 

Combinatorial chemistry and HT E are powerful tools in the hands of a scient ist, as they are a source for meaningful consistent records of data that would be hard to obtain via conventional methods within a decent timeframe. This blessing of fast data acquisition can turn into a curse if the experimentalist does not take precautions to carefully plan the experiments ahead and the means of handling the data and analyzing them afterwards. The two essential elements that ensure a successful execution of ambitious projects on a rational and efficient basis are, therefore, tools that enable the scientist to carefully plan experiments and get the most out of the minimum number of experiments in combination with the possibility of fast and reliable data retrieval from databases. Therefore, experimental planning and data management are complementary skillsets for the pre- and post experimental stages. 

Combinatorial chemistry techniques produce hundreds, if not thousands, of samples that need to be analyzed in a relatively short period of time. While fast HPLC analyses with short columns and fast gradients have increased throughput, there are still limits on the number of samples that can be processed. Some systems have evolved that incorporate multiple injectors, pumps, and UV detectors, but are still limited by having only one mass spectrometer available for detection and analyte identification. 

J. Kobylecki, and J. Steel, Combinatorial synthesis—the design of compound libraries and their application to drug discovery, Tetrahedron 5J 8135 (1995), and references cited therein (b) G. Lowe, Combinatorial chemistry, Chem. Soc. Rev. p. 309(1995) (c) E. R. Felder, The challenge of preparing and testing combinatorial compound libraries in the fast lane, at the front end of drug development, Chimia 48 531 (1994) (d) P. C. Andrews, D. M. Leonard, W. C. Cody, and T. 

The future The field of combinatorial chemistry has moved at an incredibly fast pace in the last several years. What can we expect to see next year in Volume 2 ... 

There is no ideal method which would satisfy all these requirements. For example, NMR is a very informative method but it is time consuming, optical spectroscopy is sensitive and fast but not very informative, capillary electrophoresis is biased toward charged molecules, etc. Thus it is important to develop an analytical toolkit for combinatorial chemistry. 

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