Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, hosts the 2nd Compound Challenge, a competition to identify the best submitted synthetic route for a given small molecule as determined by:

number of synthesis steps

obtained yield

achieved purity

Anyone from around the world may register for the competition. After the registration deadline, all those registered for the challenge receive the structure of a small molecule and submit their proposed synthesis route within 96 hours. All the submitted routes are anonymized, and all registered participants are assigned to evaluate part of these anonymized routes in a randomized manner. Based on the participants evaluation, we then select the top 10 best evaluated routes to participate in the synthesis phase of the challenge. These selected routes are tested in a wet lab and the participants with the best route, as determined by the above criteria, wins a prize of EUR 10,000.