Combinatorial chemistry

Combinatorial chemistry comprises chemical synthetic methods that make it possible to prepare a large number (tens to thousands or even millions) of compounds in a single process. These compound libraries can be made as mixtures, sets of individual compounds or chemical structures generated by computer software. Combinatorial chemistry can be used for the synthesis of small molecules and for peptides.

Strategies that allow identification of useful components of the libraries are also part of combinatorial chemistry. The methods used in combinatorial chemistry are applied outside chemistry, too.

Synthesis of molecules in a combinatorial fashion can quickly lead to large numbers of molecules. For example, a molecule with three points of diversity (R₁, R₂, and R₃) can generate ${\displaystyle N_{R_{1}}\times N_{R_{2}}\times N_{R_{3}}}$ possible structures, where ${\displaystyle N_{R_{1}}}$, ${\displaystyle N_{R_{2}}}$, and ${\displaystyle N_{R_{3}}}$ are the numbers of different substituents utilized.

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