1992 Volume 50 Issue 12 Pages 1178-1181
A brief review was made concerning the significant roles of synthetic organic chemistry in biosciences in the past, present and future.
Studies on natural products, such as isolation of biological active substances, structure determination and total syntheses, have contributed much to the progress of asymmetric syntheses. Advances in synthetic chemistry have made it possible to produce many efficient medicines contributing to medical sciences. Recently much attention has been paid to biomimetic chemistry. Many attempts to design artificial enzymes and apply them to organic syntheses have been made. Remarkable progress in molecular biology gave rise to biotechnology, thereby enabling the production of valuable endogenous proteins.
In future new fields will, no doubt, be developed at the interface of biosciences and synthetic organic chemistry to contribute to the welfare of mankind.
