The impact of click chemistry in medicinal chemistry.

The copper(I)-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of alkynes and azides to form 1,2,3-triazoles is the most popular reaction in click chemistry. This reaction is also near-perfect, in terms of its robustness, due to the high degree of reliability and complete specificity. Furthermore, this reaction has been used increasingly in drug discovery, because the formed 1,2,3-triazole can act as both a bioisostere and a linker. This review provides an overview of a most important click reaction, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of alkynes and azides, in the drug discovery. Click chemistry is a very powerful tool, in the drug discovery, because it is very efficient in the creation of compound libraries through combinatorial methodology. However, the 1,2,3-triazole ring itself is not a commonly used pharmacophore and has rarely been found in marketed drugs, demonstrating that there are still some limitations during the use of 1,2,3-triazole in the molecules of drug candidates. Hopefully, in the next decade, we will witness the emergence of 1,2,3-triazole-bearing drugs on the market as this click reaction is used more and more widely in the drug discovery.

Citation

Jingli Hou, Xifang Liu, Jie Shen, Guilong Zhao, Peng George Wang. The impact of click chemistry in medicinal chemistry. Expert opinion on drug discovery. 2012 Jun;7(6):489-501

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PMID: 22607210

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