From kcross@cas.org  Thu Jul 17 11:07:42 1997
Received: from srv01s4.cas.org  for kcross@cas.org
	by www.ccl.net (8.8.3/950822.1) id KAA13703; Thu, 17 Jul 1997 10:54:26 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 10:53:56 -0400
From: kcross@cas.org (Kevin P. Cross Ext. 3192)
Message-Id: <9707171053.AA29958@cas.org>
Subject: Re: CCL:SUMMARY - Reaction Pathway Programs
In-Reply-To: <199707152152.AA20799@interlock.amoco.com> of Tue, 15 Jul 1997 16:51:21 -0500
To: jtgolab@amoco.com
Cc: CHEMISTRY@www.ccl.net


Folks,

Joe has done a nice job gathering and summarizing
information about retro-synthesis planning programs.
I would like to have this conversion move in a slightly
different direction.  A lot of these programs have been
around for a long time yet it seems that none has really
caught on in the market place.

What are peoples opinions on why these programs are not
routinely used for synthesis planning today?

I have a few questions to start out:

Do they give too many hypothetical answers but not practical?
Do they give too many answers (or repetative answers - same substructure)?
Is the software too difficult to use without a lot of training?
Does the software fail to reveal anything new to trained synthetic chemists?
Is it too expensive or run on the wrong platforms?
Does it lack integration with reaction data, availability, etc?
Is it too time consuming to run for many users?

What can be done to make these programs more useful?

Many thanks in advance,
Kevin

===================================================
Kevin P. Cross, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Research Scientist
Chemical Abstracts Service
(614)-447-3600 Ext. 3192
kcross@cas.org
===================================================