Natural product synthesis in the age of scalability

The ability to procure useful quantities of a molecule by simple, scalable routes is emerging as an important goal in natural product synthesis. Approaches to molecules that yield substantial material enable collaborative investigations (such as SAR studies or eventual commercial production) and inherently spur innovation in chemistry. As such, when evaluating a natural product synthesis, scalability is becoming an increasingly important factor. In this Highlight, we discuss recent examples of natural product synthesis from our laboratory and others, where the preparation of gram-scale quantities of a target compound or a key intermediate allowed for a deeper understanding of biological activities or enabled further investigational collaborations.