Method of preparing coded compound libraries

A method for preparing a library of compounds, comprising:

• a) providing a plurality of beads wherein each of said beads has an interior and an exterior portion and wherein each of said beads is divided into a plurality of zones extending from said exterior into said interior and wherein each of said zones consists of a plurality of reactive functional groups and a plurality of linkers, and wherein each of said reactive functional groups is independently connected to each of said beads through each of said linkers;
• b) contacting a first bead with a protective component such that said reactive functional groups of said first bead react with said protective component to afford a protected functional group;
• c) contacting said first bead with a deprotecting component such that said protected functional groups in a first zone on said exterior of said first bead revert to said reactive functional groups;
• d) contacting said first bead with a first reactive component such that said reactive functional groups in said first zone react with said first reactive component to afford a first building block of a compound precursor;
• e) contacting said first bead with a deprotecting component such that said protected functional groups in a subsequent zone on said interior of said first bead revert to said reactive functional groups;
• f) contacting said first bead with a subsequent reactive component such that said compound precursor reacts with said subsequent reactive component to afford a subsequent building block of said compound precursor, said reactive functional groups in said subsequent zone react with said subsequent reactive component to afford a coding tag, and any coding tag in any previous zone reacts with said subsequent reactive component to afford a coding tag additionally coding for said subsequent building block;
• g) repeating steps e)-f) until said first compound has been prepared;
• and
• subjecting additional beads to steps b)-g) with additional reactive components to prepare said library of compounds.

A method for preparing a coded library of compounds, comprising:

• a) providing a plurality of beads, wherein each said beads has an interior portion and an exterior portion and wherein each of said beads is divided into a plurality of zones extending from said exterior portion into said interior portion and wherein each of said zones consists of a plurality of reactive functional groups;
• b) contacting each of said beads with a protective component;
• c) contacting each of said beads with a deprotecting component;
• d) splitting the beads into two or more separate pools;
• e) contacting the first reactive components with one or more first reactive functional groups in the two or more separate pools such that a first reactive functional group reacts with one of the first reactive components to afford a first building block, and a first reactive functional group reacts with one of the first reactive components to afford a first coding building block, wherein the contacting step yields subsequent compound precursors;
• f) mixing the subsequent compound precursors from the two or more separate pools into a single pool;
• g) splitting the subsequent compound precursors into two or more separate pools;
• h) contacting the subsequent compound precursors in the two or more separate pools with a successive reactive component such that a subsequent reactive functional group reacts with the successive reactive component to afford a subsequent building block, and a subsequent reactive functional group reacts with the successive reactive component to afford a subsequent coding building block, wherein the contacting step yields further compound precursors;
• i) repeating steps f)-h), wherein the further compound precursors of step h) become the subsequent compound precursors of step f), until the library of compounds has been prepared.

A method for identifying a compound in a library of compounds, comprising:

• a) cleaving each of a series of compounds and each of a series of coding tags from each of beads;
• b) subjecting said compounds and said coding tags to mass spectral analysis;
• and
• c) calculating the mass difference between the mass of a compound peak or a coding peak and a peak corresponding to a linker in order to identify said compound.