Green organic synthesis via multicomponent reactions

Abstract

The success of the modern pharmaceutical industry is largely due to the remarkable achievements of organic synthesis over the last century. However, many of these reactions were developed at a time when the toxic properties of many reagents and solvents were not known and waste minimisation and sustainability were not significant issues. By the latter half of the 1980s, the worldwide chemical industry knew that it had to clean up its act: its environmental reputation was terrible. In the past two decades, the Green Chemistry movement has helped industry become much cleaner. Green chemistry efficiently utilises (preferably renewable) raw materials, eliminates waste, and avoids the use of toxic and/or hazardous reagents and solvents in the manufacture and application of chemical products. There are several ways in which organic synthesis can be carried out in line with the Green Chemistry principles and, among these, multicomponent reactions under green conditions prove to be useful and versatile tools. Recent examples of applications will demonstrate the molecular diversity that can be obtained from this green synthetic approach.