Chapter 2 - Click chemistry: A tool for green chemical organic synthesis

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The notion of click chemistry was introduced in 2001 by Barry Sharpless as a tool for designing new molecular entities. Click chemistry comprises of a class of extremely efficient, selective, and authentic reactions which involve ligation of two or more diversely functionalized moieties under benign reaction conditions for the expeditious synthesis of novel molecularly distinct moieties via heteroatom bonds. A multitude of reactions such as cycloadditions, epoxides, and aziridines’ nucleophilic ring-opening reactions, nonaldol processes, nucleophilic addition reactions, and thiol-based reactions which fall in the category of click reactions. These click reactions display remarkable features like modular approach, regio- and stereoselectivity, incredible functional group tolerance, formation of single product in high yield, elimination of by-product, atom economy, employment of mild reaction conditions, water compatibility, and use of simple purification processes. Owing to these outstanding properties, click reactions have emerged as an extremely facile, green, and useful methodology for the synthesis of myriads of structurally distinguished molecules. Inspired by the significance and vastness of click reactions in the organic synthesis domain, herein we have made an effort to elucidate the synthetic aspects of various click reactions.