A paper in the journal Science lays out a roadmap for broadening access to the process of discovering molecules that can benefit society, including medicines, materials and a range of everyday consumer products.
In “Bonding Carbons Iteratively,” author Martin D. Burke, the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and founding director of the Molecule Maker Lab at the Beckman Institute, describes a modular approach for making molecules called “blocc chemistry.” This method builds small molecules via iterative assembly of prefabricated building blocks, or “bloccs.”
Unlike traditional chemical synthesis — which for nearly two centuries has relied on highly specialized, human expertise — blocc chemistry allows carbon-carbon bonds, the backbone connections in nearly all organic molecules, to be assembled iteratively and automatically. This feature opens the door to robotic synthesis, AI-guided molecular discovery and participation by nonspecialists, including students and citizen scientists.
“Blocc chemistry enables automation of organic synthesis, rapid generation of modular datasets for training AI models, and broadened access to molecular innovation,” Burke said.
In parallel with the paper published in Science, the Molecule Maker Lab (MML) at the Beckman Institute announced the formation of a global task force charged with prospectively developing safeguards to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of democratizing molecular innovation.
“It is important to establish safeguards and best practices to ensure that small-molecule discovery is leveraged safely and responsibly,” Burke said.
Read the full announcement from the Beckman Institute.