MULTICOMPONENT REACTIONS IN ORGANIC-CHEMISTRY

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