Organic Synthesis: New Vistas in the Brazilian Landscape

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT In this overview, we present our analysis of the future of organic synthesis in Brazil, a highly innovative and strategic area of research which underpins our social and economical progress. Several different topics (automation, catalysis, green chemistry, scalability, methodological studies and total syntheses) were considered to hold promise for the future advance of chemical sciences in Brazil. In order to put it in perspective, contributions from Brazilian laboratories were selected by the citations received and importance for the field and were benchmarked against some of the most important results disclosed by authors worldwide. The picture that emerged reveals a thriving area of research, with new generations of well-trained and productive chemists engaged particularly in the areas of green chemistry and catalysis. In order to fulfill the promise of delivering more efficient and sustainable processes, an integration of the academic and industrial research agendas is to be expected. On the other hand, academic research in automation of chemical processes, a well established topic of investigation in industrial settings, has just recently began in Brazil and more academic laboratories are lining up to contribute. All these areas of research are expected to enable the future development of the almost unchartered field of scalability.