From Target-Oriented to Motif-Oriented: A Case Study on Nannocystin Total Synthesis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This review paper details differents strategies to the natural product nannocystin A.

I found the information very clear and easy to read and the figures/diagrams to be of an excellent quality make the reading of the paper very enjoyable. Furthermore, the way that the different syntheses were compared with each other was very enlightening. The article provided enough information to understand all the key steps without overburdening the reader with excess or irrelevant details. The comments on strategy design and comparisions to target oriented synthesis and motif oriented approaches was very interesting as well.

I highly reccomend publishing of this article.

Either way - this a minor point that needs addressing before publication.

In summary, a really good review and my congratulations to the author for this work. 

Author Response

Point: "Either way - this a minor point that needs addressing before publication."

Response: The author has corrected typos and further improved the content.

Reviewer 2 Report

This is a very well-written, focused review in an area of considerable interest to a number of synthetic and medicinal chemists. There is no question that total synthesis remains one of the most challenging, exciting and truly useful areas of research in organic chemistry. Furthermore, the target orientated nature of the work leads to experimental and problem-solving skills that are difficult to match by most other areas of chemistry.

The manuscript is well-structured, easy to follow, and virtually free of errors. Figures and schemes are of consistently high quality making the article a pleasure to read.

In short, this is an excellent review article that I enthusiastically recommend for publication in Molecules.

Author Response

Point: no suggestions about spelling check

Respone: the author has corrected typos and further improved the content.