Small molecule synthesis usually relies on procedures highly customized for each target. A broadly applicable automated process could greatly increase the accessibility of this class of compounds to enable investigations of their practical potential. Here we report the synthesis of 14 distinct classes of small molecules using the same fully automated process. This was achieved by strategically expanding the scope of a building block-based synthesis platform to include even Csp3-rich polycyclic natural product frameworks and discovering a catch-and-release chromatographic purification protocol applicable to all of the corresponding intermediates. With thousands of compatible building blocks already commercially available, many small molecules are now accessible with this platform. More broadly, these findings illuminate an actionable roadmap to a more general and automated approach for small molecule synthesis.

Holey ultrathin g‐C3N4 nanosheets (CNHS) with abundant micro‐, meso‐, and macropores are fabricated by thermal “etching” of bulk g‐C3N4. The prepared CNHS possess a unique ultralight characteristic, high specific surface area, more catalytic active sites, and enhanced electron transport ability, leading to a much superior activity in hydrogen generation and photodegradation of pollutant.

Efficient access to chiral C(sp3) boronates in stereochemically pure form is critical for realizing the substantial potential of such building blocks in complex-molecule synthesis. We herein report that a pinene-derived iminodiacetic acid (PIDA) ligand enables the highly diastereoselective synthesis of a wide range of oxiranyl C(sp3) boronates from the corresponding olefins. These oxiranyl PIDA boronates, in turn, can be readily transformed into unprecedented stable α-boryl aldehydes via a novel 1,2-migration of the boronate group that proceeds with complete maintenance of stereochemical purity. B-Protected haloboronic acids containing dual sp3-hybridized C centers are readily accessible via this platform, and the herein demonstrated capacity for stereocontrolled iterative C(sp3) cross-coupling with this novel type of bifunctional reagent to access a medicinally important chiral small-molecule target in highly enantioenriched form represents a substantial advance for the building-block-based approach to synthesis.