LAUSR

Abstract This report describes mathematical relationships between step and cumulative process mass intensities (PMIs) for synthesis plans, and analogous parameters applied to E-factors. It is shown that both step E-factors and step PMIs are not additive for synthesis plans. It is also shown that a recursive calculation of cumulative PMIs from step PMIs is a rapid method of determining overall PMIs for synthesis plans, though cumulative PMIs are not sufficiently informative as step PMIs or step E-factors to identify bottlenecks in synthesis plans. Illustrations on the use of these metrics to track the material efficiency of published synthesis plans for the pharmaceutical, apixaban, are given as a template example. Advantages and disadvantages of each metric are discussed. A general algorithm to select the most promising candidate synthesis plans considered at the design stage for a given molecular target that most likely satisfy “green” material efficiency criteria is also presented.