Combinatorial chemistry is a technique by which large numbers of structurally distinct molecules may be synthesised in a time and submitted for pharmacological assay. The key of combinatorial chemistry is that a large range of analogues is synthesised using the same reaction conditions, the same reaction vessels. In this way, the chemist can synthesise many hundreds or thousands of compounds in one time instead of preparing only a few by simple methodology.
In the past, chemists have traditionally made one compound at a time. For example compound A would have been reacted with compound B to give product AB, which would have been isolated after reaction work up and purification through crystallisation, distillation, or chromatography.
In contrast to this approach, combinatorial chemistry offers the potential to make every combination of compound A1 to An with compound B1 to Bn.
The range of combinatorial techniques is highly diverse, and these products could be made individually in a parallel or in mixtures, using either solution or solid phase techniques. Whatever the technique used the common denominator is that productivity has been amplified beyond the levels that have been routine for the last hundred years.
