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Establishing an efficient catalytic system for direct amidation reactions has remained a formidable challenge for years. This Comment will focus on potential new directions in the hope of moving this field forward.
Preprints are openly available non-peer-reviewed manuscripts that precede the actual peer-reviewed publication. We analyse this phenomenon that is gaining popularity across all areas of catalysis.
Developing catalytic reactions for organic synthesis is the central goal of countless research groups worldwide. High-throughput experimentation is invaluable for this pursuit, with the requisite tools becoming increasingly available to both industrial and academic research labs.
Models play a significant role in the development of catalysts. However, they are constructed using a reductionist approach and this poses the question of their relevance for the comprehension of physical phenomenon.
Databases of computational results hold high promise for accelerating catalysis research. Still, many challenges remain and consensus on facets such as metadata, reliability and curation is crucial to transform the hype into an attractive technology.