Recent Advances in the Application of Meldrum's Acid in Multicomponent Reactions

Background: The design of environmentally benign protocols complying with the ‘Green Chemistry principles’ such as energy consumption, atom efficiency and sustainability has evoked immense interest among researchers. Methods: Multicomponent reactions provide powerful synthetic method for the rapid generation of structurally diverse combinatorial libraries for drug discovery. These reactions avert the need for isolation as well as purification of intermediates, resulting in maximization of yield and reduction of waste, rendering the protocol environmentally benevolent. Meldrum’s acid has been used in the design and synthesis of diverse types of heterocyclic compounds and considered as a vital building block in organic synthesis. Conclusion: This review describes the multicomponent reactions of Meldrum’s acid which serves as a starting material for the synthesis of heterocycles like pyrazines, quinolines, chromenes, pyrans, zwitter ions, pyridines, pyrimidines, pyrrolidiones, benzothiazines, benzoxazepines, amides, esters, spiro compounds, acids etc. with array of pharmacological properties.