The technique of microwave-assisted combinatorial synthesis, which developed recently from the combination of microwave-assisted organic synthesis with combinatorial synthesis, has been widely applied by medicinal chemists and become one of the most powerful tools to improve the efficiency of drug development. In this paper, the recent developments of microwave-assisted combinatorial synthesis are reviewed including solid phase synthesis, application of polymer-supported catalyst to combinatorial synthesis, liquid phase combinatorial synthesis, fluorous phase combinatorial synthesis and combinatorial parallel synthesis.

Key words: combinatorial chemistry, microwave-assisted combinatorial synthesis, microwave-assisted organic synthesis