Definition: What is Michael Addition?

Michael addition, also known as the Michael reaction, is one of the most well-known reactions in organic synthesis. It is a nucleophilic addition reaction. It is immensely useful for the formation of a carbon-carbon bond when a carbon nucleophile adds to an α, β-unsaturated carbonyl compound through a 1,4-addition mechanism. The product formed in the Michael addition reaction is called Michael adduct ^[1-4].

The history of this reaction goes back to 1887 when Arthur Michael of Tufts University first synthesized a product through this procedure.

Examples of Michael Addition ^[5]

Mechanism of Michael Addition ^[4-8]

Applications of Michael Addition

Michael addition is widely used to synthesize all kinds of natural products, drugs, and complex compounds with biological activities ^[9].

References
1. Definition – Polymerdatabase.com
2. Definition – Chemistryworld.com
3. Definition – Chem.ucla.edu
4. Definition and mechanism – Byjus.com
5. Mechanism – Masterorganicchemistry.com
6. Mechanism – Chem.ucalgary.ca
7. Mechanism – Organic-chemistry.org
8. Mechanism – Name-reaction.com
9. Applications – Eurekaselect.com