ABSTRACT
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... 113 References ...................................................................................................................................... 114
The discovery of safe and efficacious biologically active compounds is a structured multi-step process in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries.1 It typically starts with the screening of chemical libraries or compound collections, an established method to provide entry points (“hits”) to new discovery chemistry programs. This hit identification phase leads to the subsequent optimization efforts (“hit exploration,” “hit-to-lead,” and “lead optimization”) and ultimately to the selection of a compound that meets the criteria to enter clinical trials or field trials, respectively (Figure 3.1).
