The final of the 12th SCI-Royal Society of Chemistry National Retrosynthesis Competition took place in March.
The competition celebrates the skills of synthetic organic chemists who are able to retrosynthetically disconnect complex molecules and natural products then solve the challenging problem associated with the forward synthesis.
The event provides a showcase for chemists from both industry and academia to demonstrate their retrosynthetic and forward synthetic prowess, and a shortlist of 10 teams were invited to present before their peers and the judges at Royal Society of Chemistry at Burlington House, London. This year’s molecule was swieteliacate S.
This year’s winners were the team ‘Claise 'n' Shine’ from Vertex, with ‘The Barbierians’ from Concept Life Sciences in second place. In third place came a team ‘Home Swiet Home’ made up of undergraduates from Imperial College London. The audience vote was won by the ‘SynCity 3000’ team from the University of Oxford.
Professor Liam Ball from the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham and one of the judges of the competition said: “The retrosynthesis competition is a great showcase for UK organic chemistry, and it is so impressive to see the diversity of routes towards the same target.
“Judging the entries was incredibly difficult because each team’s solution was unique, with its own strengths and potential weaknesses. The competition provides a great challenge for organic chemists - academic or industrial, and irrespective of career stage - and this was really reflected in the diversity of the teams who took part.”
Dr Joëlle Prunet, head of organic teaching at the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry and another of the competition judges said: “This retrosynthesis competition is a very important event, showcasing that the art of total synthesis is still vibrant in this country, which is essential for the good health of research in organic chemistry.
“It attracted a large number of talented young researchers from industry and academia, and was organised and run in an efficient manner. Overall, a very enjoyable day of excellent science in a friendly atmosphere of competition!” she said.
The final team presentations from this year’s competition can be found here: 12th Retrosynthesis Competition final teams presentations
More on science and innovation
- Bright SCIdea 2025 final: The winner and all the pitches
- SCItalk video: How we build a renewable carbon economy
- The surprising reason why climate change means more space junk
Visit Blog