Screening for properties

An important factor which can influence relative interest in natural sources vs. synthetics as test objects for biological screening is the effort required to prepare a natural product for testing. In vitro antibacterial tests can be carried out inexpensively with crude extracts containing a virtual microcosm of chemical components. Screening for properties which demand animal test systems, however, generally requires more elaborate pretreatment of a natural product with separation or concentration of components to be tested. 

Combinatorial synthesis is based on the preparation of alarge number of compounds or materials, if possible in a form that is easy to screen for properties of interest. To screen a very large number of chemicals (monomers, solvents, crosslinker, templates) each experiment needs to be small. This allows one to reduce the amount of reagents used and to speed up the screening process. 

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