Dividing-wall columns (DWC) are intensified distillation systems for multicomponent separations. They have the potential to save significantly both energy and capital costs than conventional simple column configurations. In this paper, it is shown that the DWC columns can be systematically generated from the conventional simple column configurations. Because of the simple column sequences with sharp splits are the simple and widely studied conventional schemes for multicomponent distillation, the purpose of this work is to formulate a procedure for systematic synthesis of DWC columns for such simple conventional schemes. A four-step procedure is formulated which systematically generates all the possible DWC columns from the simple column sequences. First, the subspace of the original thermally coupled configurations corresponding to the simple column configurations is generated. Then, the subspace of the thermodynamically equivalent structures corresponding to the original thermally coupled configurations is produced. Finally, the subspace of the DWC columns corresponding to the thermodynamically equivalent structures is achieved. An example of quaternary distillation is used to illustrate the synthesis procedure which is applicable to a mixture with any number of components. (C) 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.