Developments and progress in polymer science are often inspired by organic chemistry. In recent years, multicomponent reactions-especially the Passerini and Ugi reactions-have become very important tools for macromolecular design, mainly due to their modular character. In this review, the versatility of the Passerini and Ugi reactions in polymer science is highlighted by discussing recent examples of their use for monomer synthesis, as polymerization techniques, and for postpolymerization modification, as well as their suitability for architecture control, sequence control, and sequence definition.
Keywords: Macromolecule; Multicomponent reaction; Passerini; Polymer chemistry; Polymerization; Ugi.