Multicomponent Syntheses based upon Copper-Catalyzed Alkyne-Azide Cycloaddition

The copper-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) is a highly versatile, regioselective synthesis of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles under mild reaction conditions and has found numerous applications in medicinal, bioorganic, and materials chemistry in the past one and a half decades. By virtue of the enormous tolerance for functional groups and the mild reaction conditions, CuAAC has become increasingly important in combination with multicomponent reactions (MCR), either in a domino or in a consecutive fashion. While the majority of CuAAC-based MCR are founded on the in situ or en route generation of azides, one-pot generation of alkynes and the concatenation with other MCR are rapidly catching up and novel sequences for efficient one-pot syntheses of triazole-based structures in a multicomponent fashion are constantly evolving. This review summarizes important contributions of CuAAC-based MCR including MCR-type applications in polymer science.