Gromski, P. S., Henson, A. B. , Granda, J. M. and Cronin, L. (2019) How to explore chemical space using algorithms and automation. Nature Reviews Chemistry, 3(2), pp. 119-128. (doi: 10.1038/s41570-018-0066-y)
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Abstract
Although extending the reactivity of a given class of molecules is relatively straightforward, the discovery of genuinely new reactivity and the molecules that result is a wholly more challenging problem. If new reactions can be considered unpredictable using current chemical knowledge, then we suggest that they are not merely new but also novel. Such a classification, however, requires an expert judge to have access to all current chemical knowledge or risks a lack of information being interpreted as unpredictability. Here, we describe how searching chemical space using automation and algorithms improves the probability of discovery. The former enables routine chemical tasks to be performed more quickly and consistently, while the latter uses algorithms to facilitate the searching of chemical knowledge databases. Experimental systems can also be developed to discover novel molecules, reactions and mechanisms by augmenting the intuition of the human expert. In order to find new chemical laws, we must seek to question current assumptions and biases. Accomplishing that involves using two areas of algorithmic approaches: algorithms to perform searches, and more general machine learning and statistical modelling algorithms to predict the chemistry under investigation. We propose that such a chemical intelligence approach is already being used and that, in the not-too-distant future, the automated chemical reactor systems controlled by these algorithms and monitored by a sensor array will be capable of navigating and searching chemical space more quickly, efficiently and, importantly, without bias. This approach promises to yield not only new molecules but also unpredictable and thus novel reactivity.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Henson, Dr Alon and Granda, Dr Jaroslaw and Gromski, Dr Piotr and Cronin, Professor Lee |
| Authors: | Gromski, P. S., Henson, A. B., Granda, J. M., and Cronin, L. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry |
| Journal Name: | Nature Reviews Chemistry |
| Publisher: | Nature Research |
| ISSN: | 2397-3358 |
| ISSN (Online): | 2397-3358 |
| Published Online: | 15 January 2019 |
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