ABSTRACT
Combinatorial chemistry can be defined (Czarnik 1998) as a subfield of chemistry that aims to combine a small number of chemical reagents, in all the combinations determined by a given reaction scheme, to yield a large number of well-defined products in a form that is easy to screen for properties of interest. It can be considered an umbrella term that covers a wide array of topics, including the combinatorial and high-throughput parallel synthesis and all the associated technologies for handling, analyzing, and screening these libraries and obtaining useful molecules from them. Combinatorial chemistry has come to be regarded as a tool rather than an end in itself. Its success is measured in terms of the lead compounds and new chemical entities discovered in various areas, such as molecular recognition, catalysis, drug discovery, materials science, and agrochemical applications.
