Retrosynthesis predicts what molecules were used to produce (or synthesize) a given chemical. It's like if I showed you a cake, then you would say "I need flour, water, eggs, sugar, baking soda, butter, and salt to create that cake."
E. J. Corey was awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in "organic synthesis" (which includes retrosynthesis). There are many variations on recipes to make a cake (even if you use the same ingredients). Similarly, retrosynthesis algorithms help chemists identify new (and possibly easier/cheaper/faster) methods of creating drugs for the pharmaceutical industry.
In this notebook, we'll attempt to build a machine learning model for retrosynthesis predictions.
