LHASA Group Background

Discover the tradition of innovative research in the field of computer-assisted synthetic analysis. One of the first applications for organic chemists, the LHASA program continues to represent leading-edge research in this area.

Group Profile

The world of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries is changing rapidly, demanding more flexible and cost-effective development and production techniques. The LHASA Project incorporates the latest advances in computer technology to provide chemists with leading-edge computational tools for synthesis design.

We aim at delivering optimum solutions for the drug development and healthcare industries, as well as advanced academic training. Our software enters the new millennium with the solid advantage of Java technology, making the programs platform-independent.

LHASA Milestones

1960's: Development of OCSS program (Organic Chemical Simulation of Synthesis), E. J. Corey and W. T. Wipke, Science 1969, 166, 178.
1969 - Birth of LHASA: Professor E. J. Corey creates the LHASA program as a separate research project. LHASA became the first application to display drawings of skeletal chemical structures on a computer screen. It was originally developed for the DEC PDP-1 (see our photo gallery).
1970's: Development of LHASA continues on a DEC PDP-10 in the Aiken Computer Science Laboratory at Harvard. Original strategies and tactics are implemented. Towards the end of the decade, LHASA moves to the chemistry department at Harvard upon the acquisition of the group's first VAX computer.
Early 1980's: LHASA group licenses its first application to industrial customers, as well as other academic institutions. Program port to the VAX architecture is completed. Major developments of novel strategies and tactics (see publications list). International expansion of user community leads to the inception of LHASA UK (now LHASA Limited), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the enhancement and further development of LHASA software.
Late 1980's: Development of DEREK module for toxicology prediction.
1990's: A port to several flavors of Unix, followed by a switch to a client/server model is developed for both LHASA and DEREK. Total source code exceeds 250,000 lines.
1997: New Java-based graphical user interface is designed and implemented for DEREK.
1999: New module for combinatorial chemistry is developed. Program can now do synthetic analysis in the forward, as well as the retrosynthetic direction.
2000: Version 18 is now under rapid development. When released it will consist of an integrated LHASA suite with an all-new Java-based graphical user interface for easy enterprise-wide deployment via the web.