Combinatorial Chem

I've been reading about combinatorial chemistry lately, especially its applications in drug discovery. Last semester Jordan Katz (a Reed alum who recently finished his PhD) gave a talk about using a combinatorial approach to find the right inorganic materials for solar cells--unrelated to drug discovery, but showing that it is a useful technique in a variety of applications. This paper and this paper aren't exactly new, but they were my first introduction to the idea of screening a modular library that utilized a combinatorial approach (papers read in my topics in biochemistry course this past fall).

I think I understand the utility of such an approach. Biological systems are complicated, and the idea of design feels really...strange in some ways. Nature works through selection, not design. I know that there are drugs that have been designed, but I can see how a combinatorial approach would be a useful angle since there are so many potential compounds that could be pharmacologically active (is "chemical space" the right term?).

But every time I read a paper that uses a combinatorial approach, all I can think is how boring it must be for the poor grad student or lab tech carrying it out, since it's a conceptual problem that takes a lot of hands going through tedium to sort through. I think at an abstract level, design is more appealing because it is just more satisfying conceptually to think through a rational structure. At least, as a reader, it's more satisfying to read about. I can't help but find combinatorial chemistry boring, however useful of a tool it may be.