Dear Colleagues,

Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are powerful transformations that incorporate portions of three or more reactants into new products in one pot procedures. They have been used extensively to form heterocyclic structures and they have been combined with subsequent transformations to yield complex structures, not easily accessible via classical synthetic reactions.
Efforts to discover new MCRs or further develop older ones, especially in combination with other transformations, contribute significantly to the advancement of organic synthesis by providing greater flexibility, novelty and efficiency. Applications of MCRs in drug discovery, material sciences, natural product synthesis and ligand and biological probe preparations further demonstrate the power of these reactions. Advances in cheminformatic tools allow for virtual MCR libraries to be first accessed in silico against a variety of different parameters before initiation of compound library synthesis.

This special issue of Molecules welcomes previously unpublished manuscripts covering all aspects of multicomponent reactions including their design, product assessment, methodology development and applications.

Dr. Irini Akritopoulou-Zanze
Guest Editor

• multicomponent reactions
• isocyanide-based MCRS
• heterocycle forming MCRS
• library design
• library synthesis
• parallel synthesis
• novel scaffolds
• biologically active molecules
• post MCR transformations
• macromolecules