Thiol–yne coupling: revisiting old concepts as a breakthrough for up-to-date applications

Abstract

Radical thiol–yne coupling (TYC) has emerged as one of the most appealing click chemistry procedures, appearing as a sound candidate for replacing/complementing other popular click reactions such as the thiol–ene coupling (TEC) and the Cu-catalysed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). Radical TYC is indeed a metal-free reaction suitable for biomedical applications, and its mechanistic features often make it more efficient than its TEC sister reaction and more suitable for multifaceted derivatisations in the materials chemistry and bioconjugation realms. This article reviews the fascinating results obtained in those fields in very recent years.