Recent progress in the chemistry of multicomponent reactions*
Ivar Ugi
Technical University of Munich, Department of Organic
Chemistry, Chair 1, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, D-85747 Garching, Germany
Abstract: The chemistry of multicomponent reactions (MCRs) and
isocyanides belongs to three periods: In the century 18591958,
isocyanide chemistry was moderately active and was separate from the
classical name reactions of the MCRs. In the next period, isocyanides
became well available, and MCRs of isocyanides became the most variable
way of forming chemical compounds. The year 1993 began a new era of
the formation and investigation of the products and the libraries of
the Ugi reaction (U-4CR) and higher MCRs of the isocyanides. This chemistry
is primarily accomplished in the industrial search and preparation of
new pharmaceutical and plant-protecting products.
* Lectures presented at the International Symposium
on Green Chemistry, Delhi, India, 10-13 January 2001. Other presentations
are published in this issue, pp. 77-203.