Azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition

The azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition is a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between an azide and a terminal or internal alkyne to give a 1,2,3-triazole. Rolf Huisgen was the first to understand the scope of this organic reaction. American chemist Karl Barry Sharpless has referred to copper-catalyzed version of this cycloaddition as "the cream of the crop" of click chemistry and "the premier example of a click reaction".

In the reaction above azide 2 reacts neatly with alkyne 1 to afford the product triazole as a mixture of 1,4-adduct (3a) and 1,5-adduct (3b) at 98 °C in 18 hours.

The standard 1,3-cycloaddition between an azide 1,3-dipole and an alkene as dipolarophile has largely been ignored due to lack of reactivity as a result of electron-poor olefins and elimination side reactions. Some success has been found with non-metal-catalyzed cycloadditions, such as the reactions using dipolarophiles that are electron-poor olefins or alkynes.

Although azides are not the most reactive 1,3-dipole available for reaction, they are preferred for their relative lack of side reactions and stability in typical synthetic conditions.