Microwave-Assisted Pharmaceutical Synthesis: An Overview

Microwave-assisted organic synthesis is an enabling technology for accelerating drug discovery and development processes. Microwave instruments are used principally in three areas of drug research: the screening of organic drug formulae, peptide synthesis, and DNA amplification. The features of microwave-assisted organic synthesis technology include reduction of time for a chemical reaction, instantaneous and uniform heating, carrying out solvent free reactions and possibility of parallel chemical reactions has proved as a bonanza for the researchers involved in drug discovery and development processes like high-speed combinatorial and medicinal chemistry. Microwave-assisted organic synthesis in aqueous medium has resulted in the development of relatively sustainable and environmentally benign protocols for the synthesis of drugs. Microwave-assisted synthesis under controlled conditions has many applications in the field of medical chemistry and pharmaceutical research. This technology has made an impact in several areas of drug discovery related to organic synthesis. It has been used by pharmaceutical companies in target discovery, screening, pharmacokinetics, production of compound libraries and has found application in peptide synthesis.