Microwave-assisted high-speed chemistry: a new technique in drug discovery

In both lead identification and lead optimization processes there is an acu te need for new organic small molecules. Traditional methods of organic syn thesis are orders of magnitude too slow to satisfy the demand for these com pounds. The fields of combinatorial and automated medicinal chemistry have been developed to meet the increasing requirement of new compounds for drug discovery; within these fields, speed is of the essence. The efficiency of microwave flash-heating chemistry in dramatically reducing reaction times (reduced from days and hours to minutes and seconds) has recently been prov en in several different fields of organic chemistry. We believe that the ti me saved by using focused microwaves is potentially important in traditiona l organic synthesis but could be of even greater importance in high-speed c ombinatorial and medicinal chemistry.