Patent landscape
Map patent density around a target and surface whitespace analogs to plan synthesis on.
Map the patent density around a target molecule to find compositional whitespace, analogs no one has filed on yet, and prioritize synthesis on compounds with the cleanest IP runway.
Open Patent Center → Patent Landscape in the sidebar (Professional tier and above).
What it shows
For a target molecule (and a similarity radius you control), Patent Landscape returns a table of structurally similar compounds and the number of patent documents mentioning each in the SureChEMBL corpus. Compounds with zero mentions are flagged as whitespace.
The chart at the top breaks the result set into four buckets:
- Whitespace: zero patent mentions
- Sparse: small handful of mentions, niche territory
- Moderate: multiple filings, contested but navigable
- Dense: heavy patent density, high FTO risk
Submit whitespace as a library
Select the whitespace compounds (or click Select all whitespace) and submit them directly as a Library for retrosynthesis. The candidates land in the library dashboard ready for Submit All to generate routes for each.
This is the Patent Fence workflow: surface analogs nobody has claimed, then immediately plan their syntheses.
Caveats
What to read next
- Invention disclosures: generate IDF drafts from any task that came out of a whitespace search.
- Library synthesis: the batch retrosynthesis surface that whitespace selections feed into.