Recent applications of ninhydrin in multicomponent reactions

Ninhydrin (1,2,3-indanetrione hydrate) has a remarkable breadth in different fields, including organic chemistry, biochemistry, analytical chemistry and the forensic sciences. For the past several years, it has been considered an important building block in organic synthesis. Therefore, there is increasing interest in ninhydrin-based multicomponent reactions to rapidly build versatile scaffolds. Most of the works described here are simple reactions with readily available starting materials that result in complex molecular architectures. Some of the synthesized compounds exhibit interesting biological activities and constitute a new hope for anticancer agents. The present review aims to highlight the multicomponent reactions of ninhydrin towards diverse organic molecules during the period from 2014 to 2019.