High Throughput Strategies for the Discovery and Optimization of Catalytic Reactions

Homogeneous catalysis has provided chemists with numerous transformations to enable rapid construction of organic molecules. However, these reactions are complex, requiring multiple substrate‐dependent mechanistic steps to operate in harmony under a single set of experimental conditions. As a consequence, synthetic chemists often carry out laborious, empirical screening to identify suitable catalysts, solvents, and additives to achieve high yields and selectivity. In this Minireview, recently developed tools, technologies, and strategies will be described that improve this development process. In particular, the application of high throughput techniques to run more experiments, experimental design principles to access better data, and statistical tools to provide predictive models will be discussed. Catalytic reactions can be challenging to develop and implement because of unforeseen interactions between reaction components. As a consequence, chemists rely on laborious screening. This review describes strategies to improve the way that catalytic experiments are designed, implemented, analyzed, and interpreted.