Click Chemistry Approaches for the Synthesis and Functionalization of Macromolecules

Abstract

Click chemistry methods are powerful tools in the hands of synthetic chemists. Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne [3+2] dipolar cycloaddition reaction (CuAAC) is accepted as “the cream of the crop” of click chemistry techniques due to its orthogonality and near-perfect yields in very mild conditions. Besides CuAAC, Diels–Alder (DA), thiol–ene, atom transfer nitroxide radical coupling (ATNRC), and aldehyde–aminooxy reactions are other effective ligation methods in terms of chemoselectivity and reaction yields at moderate conditions, thus they are also accepted as click chemistry reactions. Click chemistry and controlled polymerization techniques have been utilized extensively in the synthesis of well-defined and elegant macromolecular structures.