SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY:
40 Steps to a Chemical Synthesis Summit
Robert F. Service
In the 1 June issue of Angewandte Chemie, organic chemists report the first-ever complete synthesis of the so-called CP molecules, highly complex natural compounds that have been found to have anticancer and cholesterol-lowering properties. The new synthesis work could prove vital by allowing chemists to manufacture CP analogs that may prove even more potent and also easier to produce than the CPs themselves.