Heterocycles and Multicomponent Polymerizations

Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are well-recognized synthetic tools to make sets of diversely functionalized complex small-molecule scaffolds. As it has become clear from the other chapters in this book, MCRs have been widely applied for the synthesis of heterocycles. Moreover, many MCR products can undergo so-called post-reaction modifications. These can proceed either stepwise or in situ generating advanced second-generation one-pot processes. The latter deliver higher-order complexity generating reactions ideal for diversity-oriented synthesis strategies. This offers many opportunities to introduce additional desired (often predesigned) functionality in the targeted heterocyclic compounds, which accounts for the popularity of MCRs and their post-modifications in medicinal chemistry and catalysis. The utilization of MCR chemistry to access functionalized polymers for applications in advanced materials with clever properties is much less common practice. However, the use of MCRs in polymer chemistry, also known as multicomponent polymerization (MCP), has gained quite some interest in recent years. In this chapter, we highlight some of the latest examples in this area. As the main topic of this book deals with MCR applications in heterocyclic chemistry, we focused our contribution on MCPs that result in polymers that include heterocyclic fragments.