1. Multi-component reactions: principle and applications

1.1 Definition

Chemists now have at their disposal a large number of methods for developing new functionalized target molecules, on which depend future advances in the fields of medicine, biotechnology, crop protection and materials... Traditionally, over the last century, these molecules were essentially developed in successive steps, each of which allowed the incorporation of an additional fragment (component) making up the final structure. The structural and functional complexity sought is thus only accessible through a linear sequence of independent chemical transformations (figure 1 ).