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Topic · Organic Chemistry

Chemical Synthesis and Reactions

Chemical Synthesis and Reactions is a research topic within Organic Chemistry. Science Explorer counts 53k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of innovations in organic synthesis reactions, including oxidation, catalysis, esterification, acylation, and the use of various catalysts for selective and efficient transformations. The focus is on developing greener and more sustainable methods for synthesizing organic compounds.

  • Oxidation
  • Catalysis
  • Esterification
  • Acylation
  • Sulfides
  • Sulfoxides
  • Thioethers
  • Heterogeneous Catalysts
  • Chemoselective
  • Green Chemistry
Research works
53k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+13%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
44% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Chemical Synthesis and Reactions

Which countries lead Chemical Synthesis and Reactions research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (1.6k and 709 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.6k works
  2. 2 India 709 works
  3. 3 Iran 303 works
  4. 4 United States 253 works
  5. 5 Japan 195 works
  6. 6 Russia 171 works
  7. 7 Germany 138 works
  8. 8 France 122 works
  9. 9 Italy 89 works
  10. 10 Spain 85 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 44.4%India: 19.1%Iran: 8.2%United States: 6.8%6 others listed: 21.6%44%largest
China1,647 · 44.4%India709 · 19.1%Iran303 · 8.2%United States253 · 6.8%6 others listed800 · 21.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Chemical Synthesis and Reactions research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Chemical Synthesis and Reactions research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 102 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 81 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 67 works
  4. 4 Council of Scientific and Industrial ResearchIndia 33 works
  5. 5 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 29 works
  6. 6 Nanjing Tech UniversityChina 24 works
  7. 7 Bu-Ali Sina UniversityIran 24 works
  8. 8 Fuzhou UniversityChina 24 works
  9. 9 Sichuan UniversityChina 21 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang University of TechnologyChina 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Chemical Synthesis and Reactions?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Chemical Synthesis and Reactions include Michaël Grätzel, Róbert Langer and Richard A. Gibbs.

  1. 1 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  2. 2 Róbert Langer United States 303k citations
  3. 3 Richard A. Gibbs United States 292k citations
  4. 4 Jeremy Grimshaw Canada 281k citations
  5. 5 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  6. 6 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  7. 7 Ben Zhong Tang China 261k citations
  8. 8 Omar M. Yaghi United States 254k citations
  9. 9 Stefan Grimme Germany 224k citations
  10. 10 Kai You Wang China 224k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Chemical Synthesis and Reactions?

The most cited paper in Chemical Synthesis and Reactions is "Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Solvents for Synthesis and Catalysis. 2" (Jason Patrick Hallett, Tom Welton, 2011), with 12,587 citations. Next come "Ionic Liquids—New “Solutions” for Transition Metal Catalysis" (5,721) and "A convenient synthesis of acetylenes: catalytic substitutions of acetylenic hydrogen with bromoalkenes, iodoarenes and bromopyridines" (5,175).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Solvents for Synthesis and Catalysis. 2 Jason Patrick Hallett, Tom Welton · Chemical Reviews Review 6 Apr 2011 12,587
2 Ionic Liquids—New “Solutions” for Transition Metal Catalysis Peter Wasserscheid, Wilhelm Keim · Angewandte Chemie International Edition 3 Nov 2000 5,721
3 A convenient synthesis of acetylenes: catalytic substitutions of acetylenic hydrogen with bromoalkenes, iodoarenes and bromopyridines Kenkichi Sonogashira, Yasuo Tohda, Nobue Hagihara · Tetrahedron Letters 1975 5,175
4 Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis: An Outlook beyond the Anthraquinone Process José M. Campos‐Martín, Gema Blanco‐Brieva, J.L.G. Fierro · Angewandte Chemie International Edition 13 Oct 2006 3,257
5 Hydroxymethylfurfural, A Versatile Platform Chemical Made from Renewable Resources Robert‐Jan van Putten, Jan C. van der Waal, E. de Jong et al. · Chemical Reviews ReviewOpen access 11 Feb 2013 2,873
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Chemical Synthesis and Reactions research done?

The largest centres of Chemical Synthesis and Reactions research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Tehran (Iran), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hamadan and Ufa.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 182 works
  2. 2 TehranIran 97 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 94 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 90 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 78 works
  6. 6 TianjinChina 63 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 59 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 59 works
  9. 9 TokyoJapan 58 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 56 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HamadanIR · 25.1 works24×
  2. UfaRU · 20.5 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Chemical Synthesis and Reactions than the world average.

See Chemical Synthesis and Reactions on the map

Where is the best place to study Chemical Synthesis and Reactions?

Among universities, judged by research, Fuzhou University, Nanjing Tech University and Bu-Ali Sina University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 20.81%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Fuzhou UniversityBu-Ali Sina UniversityNanjing Tech Univers…University of Chines…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Fuzhou UniversityChina 74.817.0%10.8×24 +258.9%
2Nanjing Tech UniversityChina 68.113.4%12.4×24 +68.1%
3Bu-Ali Sina UniversityIran 67.915.3%65.5×24 +50.6%
4University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 66.013.2%3.2×20 +28.8%
5Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 65.522.1%7.8×14 +100.8%
6Jiangsu UniversityChina 65.531.0%3.4×11 +38.4%
7Henan UniversityChina 63.421.4%13.1×18 +9.4%
8Tsinghua UniversityChina 62.120.7%1.6×14 +36.4%
9University of MazandaranIran 61.934.2%31.8×10 +164.7%
10Dalian University of TechnologyChina 60.819.8%3.8×14 +24.4%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Chemical Synthesis and Reactions, country by country

Is Chemical Synthesis and Reactions research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2013. The fastest-growing topics are Chemical Synthesis and Reactions.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Chemical Synthesis and Reactions as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.023% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Chemical Synthesis and Reactions0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Chemical Synthesis and Reactions over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Chemical Synthesis and Reactions9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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