Abstract
Following the increased interest from the pharmaceutical industry
for the generation of diverse libraries of heterocyclic compounds,
scientific efforts have become more and more focused on the development
of novel multi-component procedures as a means of gaining rapid
access to such compounds. Initially, the development of solid-phase
procedures received considerable attention. However, current efforts
are increasingly concerned with the development of solution-phase
procedures. The latter will be the subject of discussion in this
review, which aims to give an overview of the progress made in the
past decade.
After a general introduction, non-catalyzed, acid-catalyzed,
and transition metal-catalyzed solution-phase multi-component procedures
for the preparation of a wide range of heterocycles will be discussed.
The last chapter discusses the role of cycloaddition reactions in
the development of novel MCRs for the synthesis of heterocyclic
compounds.
In spite of their important role in the synthesis of heterocyclic
compounds, MCRs involving isocyanides are not discussed in this
review, since the topic has been exhaustively reviewed several times.
Key words
heterocycles - multi-component reactions - combinatorial
chemistry - parallel synthesis
