MULTICOMPONENT REACTIONS IN ORGANIC-CHEMISTRY

Traditionally, organic syntheses are effected by a sequence of reactions between two components: one consequence of this is that final yields can be very low. It has long been known, however, that effective syntheses can be carried out using three, or sometimes more, reactants simultaneously and a few such processes are used industrially. In recent years processes of this kind have been systematically investigated using sophisticated computer techniques, and successful syntheses have been achieved using as many as seven components.