Chemoselectivity

Chemoselectivity is an area of interest in chemistry because scientists want to recreate complex biological compounds, such as natural products, and make specific modifications to them.

[3] This analysis gives a good prediction of reactivity, but more factors such as connectivity, atomic orbital overlap, solvent effects, and the addition of supporting reagents can affect the reaction outcome.

[3] Chemists take advantage of the stability of amides by using them as protecting groups to shield sites that they don't want to react.

A famous example is the Luche Reduction, where an oxophilic metal makes the carbonyl of a conjugated ketone more reactive and directs the reducing agent.

[8] Examples include the greater relative chemoselectivity of sodium borohydride versus lithium aluminium hydride for the organic reduction of 4-nitro-2-chlorobenzonitrile to the corresponding aniline, 4-amino-2-chlorobenzonitrile.