Optimization of a synthetic sequence

The situation with regard to protective groups has been discussed previously.39,68 

It is a common experience in synthetic chemistry that a truly optimal ordering of a synthetic route may not be possible in the planning stage, but may have to determined experimentally. The precise information necessary for the complete and unambiguous evaluation of each step in a possible synthesis is hardly ever available. Nonetheless it is clearly wise to try to optimize a synthetic plan on the basis of available information before the experimental approach begins. Such an effort may suggest certain preliminary or model experiments that can be helpful in the choice or refinement of a synthetic plan. It is also obviously desirable to devise and consider alternate or bypass paths for each problematic step of a synthetic sequence. 

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It is not surprising that multistep synthesis of challenging and complex target molecules is an engine for the discovery of new synthetic principles and novel methodology which may have very broad application. Just as each component of structural complexity can signal a strategy for synthesis, each obstacle to the realization of a chemical synthesis presents an opportunity for scientific discovery. 5.10 Optimization of a Synthetic Sequence... 

For a viable commercial process, the selection of materials and the choice of synthetic route is governed primarily by cost, not by overall yield. The selection of starting material is dictated usually by the desked C-3 substituent. For cephalosporins containing 3-acetoxymethyl or 3-(substituted)methyl such as 3-thiomethyl and 3-aminomethyl derived moieties, the most dkect synthetic route is from cephalosporin C, whereas pencillin V or G is the preferred starting material for the synthesis of the C-3 methyl cephalosporins. The three chemical transformations (2), (5), and 6) can potentially be carried out in a variety of ways, the precise sequence being determined by a balance of competing factors such as cost and optimization of yield (87). 

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