Microwave Assisted Synthesis of Imidazoles - A Review

Imidazoles comprise a major class of five-membered heterocyclic compounds and have been found to be an integral part of many significant pharmacological active compounds in the field of medicinal chemistry. Imidazoles are also of general synthetic utility, since they permit functional group and structural modifications to synthesize a number of substituted heterocycles. In literature, various conventional methods are reported for the synthesis of imidazoles. Microwave assisted synthesis has become a useful technique to medicinal chemists for rapid organic synthesis to avoid formation of side product. This review concludes various existing synthetic methods of imidazoles particularly focusing on microwave assisted approach developed up to 2011.