 first proposed the concept of dynamic combinatorial chemistry.Their work combined thermodynamic templation in tandem with combinatorial chemistry, to generate an ensemble complex porphyrin and imine macrocycles using a modest selection of simple building blocks.Sanders then developed this early manifestation of dynamic combinatorial chemistry as a strategy for organic synthesis; the first example being the thermodynamically-controlled macrolactonisation of oligocholates to assemble cyclic steroid-derived macrocycles capable of interconversion via component exchange.