The psychobiological basis of heuristic synthesis planning - man, machine and the chiron approach
General strategies for the total synthesis of optically pure target molecules are reviewed with particular emphasis on the Chiron Approach which capitalizes on the use of chiral, non-racemic compounds as starting materials. The approach has been implemented in an interactive computer program which analyzes functional and stereochemical features in molecules and carries out a search of suitable starting materials and precursors for synthesis from a data base. The psychobiological basis of heuristic synthesis planning using notions of the human brain's bilateral asymmetry is discussed in the general context of the total synthesis of natural products.