Introduction:
Aza-Michael addition is an important reaction for carbon-nitrogen bond formation in synthetic organic chemistry.
Expalantion:
Conjugate addition of imidazole to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl/cyano compounds provides significant numbers of the biologically and synthetically interesting products, such as β-amino acids and β-lactams, which have attracted great attention for their use as key intermediates of anticancer agents, antibiotics and other drugs.
Conclusion:
This review addresses most significant method for the synthesis of N-substituted imidazole derivatives following Michael addition reaction of imidazole to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl/cyano compounds using ionic liquid/base/acid/enzyme as catalysts from year 2007-2017.