Difference Between Linear and Convergent Synthesis

The key difference between linear and convergent synthesis is that linear synthesis is longer and less efficient, whereas convergent synthesis is shorter and more efficient.

The term chemical synthesis refers to any process that involves the conversion of a reactant or some reactants into a product or multiple products through several chemical reaction steps. We can perform a chemical synthesis process via either linear synthesis or convergent synthesis.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Linear Synthesis
3. What is Convergent Synthesis
4. Side by Side Comparison – Linear vs Convergent Synthesis in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Linear Synthesis?

Linear synthesis is a chemical synthesis process in which a series of linear transformation reactions are used to convert a reactant or some reactants into a product or multiple products. This synthesis process includes the longest route for the production of the target product. Therefore, the process is longer, and the resulting yielding is also lower than the excepted yield due to the loss of compounds that occurs throughout the synthesis routing. The overall yield quickly drops with each reaction step. This type of reaction processes is very important in organic synthesis processes.

Key Difference - Linear vs Convergent Synthesis

Figure 01: An Example of a Linear Transformation

What is Convergent Synthesis?

Convergent synthesis is a chemical synthesis process in which pieces of the desired product are made by a set of reactions, and the pieces are combined with each other via another set of reactions. This type of synthesis process is different from linear synthesis because this process involves parallel reactions rather than linear transformations. The convergent synthesis is important in improving the efficiency of a multistep synthesis process. Since the product is formed via a combination of pieces of the product and there is no dropping of the yield per reaction, the overall yield is very high.

Difference Between Linear and Convergent Synthesis

Figure 02: An Example of Convergent Synthesis

Convergent synthesis is important in complex processes such as fragment coupling and independent synthesis. Moreover, this synthesis process is more suitable for the production of large molecules which are symmetric. The symmetry is important because then at least two pieces of the product can be produced separately. Eg. Dendrimer synthesis.

What is the Difference Between Linear and Convergent Synthesis?

We can perform a chemical synthesis process via either linear synthesis or convergent synthesis. Linear synthesis is a chemical synthesis process in which a series of linear transformation reactions are used to convert a reactant or some reactants into a product or multiple products. In contrast, convergent synthesis is a chemical synthesis process in which pieces of the desired product are made by a set of reactions, and the pieces are combined with each other via another set of reactions. The key difference between linear and convergent synthesis is that linear synthesis is longer and less efficient, whereas convergent synthesis is shorter and more efficient.

Moreover, linear synthesis includes linear transformations, while convergent synthesis includes parallel transformations. Also, another difference between linear and convergent synthesis is their yield. In linear synthesis, the yield is lower than expected whereas in convergent synthesis, the yield is higher than expected.

Summary – Linear vs Convergent Synthesis

Linear synthesis and convergent synthesis are two ways in which a chemical synthesis can be performed. The key difference between linear and convergent synthesis is that linear synthesis is longer and less efficient, whereas convergent synthesis is shorter and more efficient.

Reference:

1. “Synthetic Efficiency.” Chemistry LibreTexts, Libretexts, 5 June 2019, Available here.
2. “Convergent Synthesis.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Aug. 2019, Available here.
3. “Chemical Synthesis.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, Available here.