Advances in Click Chemistry

Click chemistry, a new molecular approach proposed by Sharpless and co-workers in 2001, is the most practical and reliable chemical reactions to connect a diversity of structures. The Cu (I) catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition is one of the most common reactions in click chemistry, which has high yield, good efficiency, and high purity. In addition, this click reaction is essentially inert to most biological molecules, oxygen, water, and tolerant of a wide range of solvents, pH values and temperatures, and allows mild reaction conditions. This click reaction also has excellent selectivity in chemical synthesis. Owing to the fact that the azide and alkyne groups are facile introduced in the structure of molecules and form a stable 1, 2,3-trizoles via click reaction, it has been widely applied in syntheses of functional polymers and biomacromolecules, surfaces modification, functionalization of DNAs and carbon nanotubes, and it has been also widely used for fabrication of biological or chemical sensors. In recent years, the cells and viruses have been modified by using click chemistry, while it doesn't damage the cells and viruses, and still keep their good biological activity. In this review, the basic principle, characteristics and advantages of click chemistry are described, the recent progress and some important research results in click chemistry are then introduced, and finally, the advances of click chemistry are prospected.