Chapter 15: Click Chemistry for Hi-tech Industrial Applications

The fast-growing subject of “click” chemistry has become an effective tool for hi-tech industrial applications. The goal of this chapter is to give readers an overview of the numerous and pioneering applications of click chemistry in the high technology sectors. The chapter starts out with a basic introduction to click chemistry, highlighting its mild reaction conditions, excellent selectivity, and quick kinetics. The specific uses of click chemistry for hi-tech industrial applications in pharmaceutical science, materials science, sensor technologies, and additive manufacturing are then discussed. Biochemical advances as a result of the modular and adaptable character of click reactions, allowing the modification and labeling of biomolecules for specialized research and therapeutic interventions, are also summarized. The use of click chemistry in sensing technologies, such as biosensors, chemical sensors, and bioimaging, is also covered in the chapter. The development of highly sensitive and selective sensors for the detection of infections in food, environmental contaminants, and biomarkers has been made possible via click reactions. Several examples of click reactions, utilized often in these hi-tech industrial applications through the copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), the strain-assisted azide–alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC), the thiol–ene click reaction, and the Diels–Alder click reactions, are provided in the chapter.