Computation-Guided Support to Experiments by the Exploration of Reaction Mechanisms: Organic Synthesis, Natural Products and Environmental Issues

Humankind has experienced a remarkable development since it began to design and optimize chemical reactions to achieve valuable compounds. The key to accomplish these tasks is the proper understanding of how chemical transformations occur at a molecular level, that is, their reaction mechanisms. Based on a suitable mechanistic proposal, experimentalists choose a given chemical protocol to optimize experimental conditions, design new synthetic routes, and circumvent competing reactions. In this context, computational chemistry has become a valuable ally for mechanistic elucidation. We present herein a review of complementary collaborations between experimentalists and theoretical chemists to rationalize processes at the molecular level, focusing mainly on the fields of organic synthesis, natural product chemistry, and systems with environmental interest. Throughout this review, we highlight the ability of computational evaluations to provide answers to questions raised from experiments in a clear and direct way, indicating to experimentalists alternative paths to help them solve their problems.