Click chemistry

Click chemistry is a family of selective, high-yielding reactions that join molecular building blocks rapidly under mild conditions, often in water and with few unwanted byproducts.

Copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition: A copper(I)-catalyzed reaction between an azide and a terminal alkyne that forms a 1,2,3-triazole. This reaction is the archetypal click transformation, combining speed, selectivity, and reliable product formation.
Barry Sharpless: An American chemist whose work on selective catalysis and click chemistry earned him two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. He articulated click chemistry as a general strategy for assembling molecules.
Bioorthogonal labeling: The attachment of detectable tags to biomolecules through reactions that do not disrupt native cellular chemistry. Click reactions attach fluorescent or other probes to biomolecules in living systems.
Staudinger ligation: A bioorthogonal ligation in which an azide reacts with a phosphine to form a stable amide-linked product. It labels azides without copper but is generally slower than strain-promoted click reactions.
Strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition: A reaction between an azide and a strained cyclooctyne that forms a triazole without a metal catalyst. Its ring strain enables bioorthogonal click reactions where copper could damage cells.
Morten Meldal: A Danish chemist who developed copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition independently of Barry Sharpless and colleagues. His group established the reaction that became the flagship click transformation.
Activity-based protein profiling: A method that uses reactive probes to identify and quantify active enzymes in complex biological samples. Click handles can reveal which enzymes a probe has labeled after biological activity occurs.
SuFEx chemistry: A class of sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange reactions used to form stable sulfur–oxygen or sulfur–nitrogen bonds. It extends click-style modular synthesis through a different, highly selective bond-forming mechanism.
Azide–alkyne cycloaddition: A cycloaddition in which an azide and an alkyne form a five-membered triazole ring. Copper-catalyzed and strain-promoted click reactions are distinct ways to drive this broader transformation.
Carolyn Bertozzi: An American chemist who developed bioorthogonal chemistry for studying molecules in living systems. She adapted click principles to reactions compatible with living cells.

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