Retro-Expert: Collaborative Reasoning for Interpretable Retrosynthesis

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Main Authors: Li, Xinyi, Wang, Sai, Lin, Yutian, Wu, Yu, Yang, Yi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Li, Xinyi
Wang, Sai
Lin, Yutian
Wu, Yu
Yang, Yi
author_facet Li, Xinyi
Wang, Sai
Lin, Yutian
Wu, Yu
Yang, Yi
contents Retrosynthesis prediction aims to infer the reactant molecule based on a given product molecule, which is a fundamental task in chemical synthesis. However, existing models rely on static pattern-matching paradigm, which limits their ability to perform effective logic decision-making, leading to black-box decision-making. Building on this, we propose Retro-Expert, an interpretable retrosynthesis framework that performs collaborative reasoning by combining the complementary reasoning strengths of Large Language Models and specialized models via reinforcement learning. It outputs natural language explanations grounded in chemical logic through three components: (1) specialized models analyze the product to construct high-quality chemical decision space, (2) LLM-driven critical reasoning to generate predictions and corresponding interpretable reasoning path, and (3) reinforcement learning optimizing interpretable decision policy. Experiments show that Retro-Expert not only surpasses both LLM-based and specialized models across different metrics but also provides expert-aligned explanations that bridge the gap between AI predictions and actionable chemical insights.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_10967
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Retro-Expert: Collaborative Reasoning for Interpretable Retrosynthesis
Li, Xinyi
Wang, Sai
Lin, Yutian
Wu, Yu
Yang, Yi
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Retrosynthesis prediction aims to infer the reactant molecule based on a given product molecule, which is a fundamental task in chemical synthesis. However, existing models rely on static pattern-matching paradigm, which limits their ability to perform effective logic decision-making, leading to black-box decision-making. Building on this, we propose Retro-Expert, an interpretable retrosynthesis framework that performs collaborative reasoning by combining the complementary reasoning strengths of Large Language Models and specialized models via reinforcement learning. It outputs natural language explanations grounded in chemical logic through three components: (1) specialized models analyze the product to construct high-quality chemical decision space, (2) LLM-driven critical reasoning to generate predictions and corresponding interpretable reasoning path, and (3) reinforcement learning optimizing interpretable decision policy. Experiments show that Retro-Expert not only surpasses both LLM-based and specialized models across different metrics but also provides expert-aligned explanations that bridge the gap between AI predictions and actionable chemical insights.
title Retro-Expert: Collaborative Reasoning for Interpretable Retrosynthesis
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.10967