Specialists in molecule making often employ the counterintuitive retrosynthetic strategy of initially increasing molecular complexity en route to simpler starting materials to produce synthetic sequences of unparalleled brevity. In this issue of Chem, Gryzbowski and co-workers describe how a computer algorithm can similarly identify these so-called “tactical combinations” and powerfully apply them to automatically identify highly efficient routes to complex molecular targets. Although computers can’t yet outperform masters of synthetic organic chemistry, this breakthrough suggests that this day is coming.

中文翻译：

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计算机征服战术组合

在分子制造专家通常使用的初期增强分子复杂的违反直觉的逆合成策略途中更简单的起始原料，以产生空前的简洁合成的序列。在本期《化学》杂志中，Gryzbowski及其同事描述了一种计算机算法如何类似地识别这些所谓的“战术组合”，并有力地将它们应用到自动识别通往复杂分子目标的高效途径上。尽管计算机还不能胜过合成有机化学的大师，但这一突破表明这一天即将到来。