AbstractThe importance of pteridines in the key cofactors, tetrahydrofolate and tetrahydrobiopterin, has encouraged the development of the chemistry and chemical biology of pteridines. In order to investigate the latter, versatile synthetic methods are required to prepare designed relatives of the natural cofactors for use as potential drugs or biological probes. Recently, diversity‐oriented synthesis has become a particularly powerful and versatile approach to the synthesis of pteridines and related heterocyclic compounds. This article describes and discusses available methods using radical, electrophilic, nucleophilic, and organometal mediated substitution reactions. © 2013 IUBMB Life 65(4):283–299, 2013.