A domestic research team has developed a groundbreaking technology that solves one of the critical obstacles in the new drug development process, known as the "simultaneous analysis" problem, becoming the world's first to achieve this. It is expected to bring innovation to next-generation drug development by integrating autonomous synthesis technology that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
Professor Kim Hyun-woo and his research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 16th that they have developed precision analysis technology capable of analyzing up to 21 types of chemical reactants simultaneously. The research was published online in the international journal in the field of chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), on May 27.
The technology developed this time is directly related to the "optical isomer" problem. An optical isomer refers to two forms of a molecule that have the same structure but are mirror images of each other, like a left hand and a right hand. One isomer may have therapeutic effects, while the other can cause serious side effects. For instance, thalidomide, which was used as a drug to alleviate morning sickness in the 1950s and 1960s, caused numerous newborn deformities due to this optical isomer problem. Thus, the "asymmetric synthesis technology" that selectively filters out the desired isomer is key to safe new drug development.
However, until now, while it was possible to react multiple compounds simultaneously, there were limitations in accurately analyzing the results. The existing methods were slow in analysis, and it was difficult to differentiate more than 10 reactants simultaneously in the asymmetric synthesis reactions, where only the desired optical isomer is selected for synthesis.
The research team solved this problem by utilizing a fluorine nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and a self-developed cobalt reagent. The fluorine nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer is an instrument that analyzes the structure of molecules at high resolution using fluorine atoms. The research team injected up to 21 reactants into a single container and reacted them, then attached fluorine functional groups to the products. They successfully quantified all optical isomers using their self-developed cobalt reagent, accurately measuring the yield of the products and the ratio of optical isomers without a separate separation process.
Professor Kim Hyun-woo noted, "By implementing world-class multi-material screening analysis technology, we can significantly contribute to enhancing the analytical capabilities of the AI-based autonomous synthesis platform" and added, "This research is a technology that can quickly verify the efficiency and selectivity of asymmetric catalytic reactions, which are essential for new drug development, and is expected to be used as a key analytical tool in AI-based autonomous research."
References
Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c03446