The site-selective formation of carbon-carbon bonds through direct functionalizations of otherwise unreactive carbon-hydrogen bonds constitutes an economically attractive strategy for an overall streamlining of sustainable syntheses. In recent decades, intensive research efforts have led to the development of various reaction conditions for challenging C-H bond functionalizations, among which transition-metal-catalyzed transformations arguably constitute thus far the most valuable tool. For instance, the use of inter alia palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, copper, or iron complexes set the stage for chemo-, site-, diastereo-, and/or enantioselective C-H bond functionalizations. Key to success was generally a detailed mechanistic understanding of the elementary C-H bond metalation step, which depending on the nature of the metal fragment can proceed via several distinct reaction pathways. Traditionally, three different modes of action were primarily considered for CH bond metalations, namely, (i) oxidative addition with electronrich late transition metals, (ii) σ-bond metathesis with early transition metals, and (iii) electrophilic activation with electrondeficient late transition metals (Scheme 1). However, more recent mechanistic studies indicated the existence of a continuum of electrophilic, ambiphilic, and nucleophilic interactions. Within this continuum, detailed experimental and computational analysis provided strong evidence for novel C-H bond metalationmechanisms relying on the assistance of a bifunctional ligand bearing an additional Lewis-basic heteroatom, such as that found in (heteroatom-substituted) secondary phosphine oxides or most prominently carboxylates (Scheme 1, iv). This novel insight into the nature of stoichiometric metalations has served as stimulus for the development of novel transformations based on cocatalytic amounts of carboxylates, which significantly broadened the scope of C-H bond functionalizations in recent years, with most remarkable progress being made in palladiumor ruthenium-catalyzed direct arylations and direct alkylations. These carboxylate-assisted C-H bond transformations were mostly proposed to proceed via a mechanism in which metalation takes place via a concerted base-assisted deprotonation. To mechanistically differentiate these intramolecular metalations new acronyms have recently been introduced into the literature, such as CMD (concerted metalationdeprotonation), IES (internal electrophilic substitution), or AMLA (ambiphilic metal ligand activation), which describe related mechanisms and will be used below where appropriate. This review summarizes the development and scope of carboxylates as cocatalysts in transition-metal-catalyzed C-H functionalizations until autumn 2010. Moreover, experimental and computational studies on stoichiometric metalation reactions being of relevance to the mechanism of these catalytic processes are discussed as well. Mechanistically related C-H bond cleavage reactions with ruthenium or iridium complexes bearing monodentate ligands are, however, only covered with respect to their working mode, and transformations with stoichiometric amounts of simple acetate bases are solely included when their mechanism was suggested to proceed by acetate-assisted metalation.

Carboxylate-assisted transition-metal-catalyzed C-H bond functionalizations: mechanism and scope.

The area of transition-metal-catalyzed direct arylation through cleavage of CH bonds has undergone rapid development in recent years, and is becoming an increasingly viable alternative to traditional cross-coupling reactions with organometallic reagents In particular, palladium and ruthenium catalysts have been described that enable the direct arylation of (hetero)arenes with challenging coupling partners—including electrophilic aryl chlorides and tosylates as well as simple arenes in cross-dehydrogenative arylations Furthermore, less expensive copper, iron, and nickel complexes were recently shown to be effective for economically attractive direct arylations

Transition-metal-catalyzed direct arylation of (hetero)arenes by C-H bond cleavage.

Functionalizing traditionally inert carbon–hydrogen bonds represents a powerful transformation in organic synthesis, providing new entries to valuable structural motifs and improving the overall synthetic efficiency. C–H bond activation, however, often necessitates harsh reaction conditions that result in functional group incompatibilities and limited substrate scope. An understanding of the reaction mechanism and rational design of experimental conditions have led to significant improvement in both selectivity and applicability. This critical review summarizes and discusses endeavours towards the development of mild C–H activation methods and wishes to trigger more research towards this goal. In addition, we examine select examples in complex natural product synthesis to demonstrate the synthetic utility of mild C–H functionalization (84 references).

Towards mild metal-catalyzed C–H bond activation

The use of coordinating moieties as directing groups for the functionalization of aromatic CH bonds has become an established tool to enhance reactivity and induce regioselectivity. Nevertheless, with regard to the synthetic applicability of CH activation, there is a growing interest in transformations in which the directing group can be fully abandoned, thus allowing the direct functionalization of simple benzene derivatives. However, this approach requires the disclosure of new strategies to achieve reactivity and to control selectivity. In this review, recent advances in the emerging field of non-chelate-assisted CH activation are discussed, highlighting some of the most intriguing and inspiring examples of induction of reactivity and selectivity.

Beyond directing groups: transition-metal-catalyzed C-H activation of simple arenes.

C–H activation has surfaced as an increasingly powerful tool for molecular sciences, with notable applications to material sciences, crop protection, drug discovery, and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Despite major advances, the vast majority of these C–H functionalizations required precious 4d or 5d transition metal catalysts. Given the cost-effective and sustainable nature of earth-abundant first row transition metals, the development of less toxic, inexpensive 3d metal catalysts for C–H activation has gained considerable recent momentum as a significantly more environmentally-benign and economically-attractive alternative. Herein, we provide a comprehensive overview on first row transition metal catalysts for C–H activation until summer 2018.

3d Transition Metals for C-H Activation.

The transition metal-catalysed direct functionalisation of C-H bonds is an increasingly viable alternative to the multi-step strategies traditionally adopted. The use of powerful and environmentally benign gold(I) and gold(III) catalysts in such transformations has highlighted their remarkable reactivity and led to a significant increase in their utilisation. This tutorial review provides an overview of gold-catalysed C-H functionalisation, looking at transformations which rely on the ability of gold to perform C-H activation, as well as those exploiting its potent π-acidity.

Gold-mediated C–H bond functionalisation

We report the first room-temperature direct C-2 arylation of indoles with iodoarenes by using a highly electrophilic palladium catalyst generated in situ from Pd(OAc)2 and a silver carboxylate. These mild conditions permit a broad set of functionalities both in the indole and in the aryl iodide units such as free alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, bromides, or nitriles, thus allowing the synthesis of a variety of novel compounds in excellent yields.

Room temperature and phosphine free palladium catalyzed direct C-2 arylation of indoles

The direct functionalization of phenols at the ortho and para position is generally facilitated by the electron-donating nature of the hydroxyl group. Accessing meta-functionalized phenols from the parent phenols, on the other hand, generally requires lengthy synthetic sequences. Here, we report the first methodology for the one-pot direct meta-selective arylation of phenols. This methodology is based on a traceless directing group relay strategy. In this process carbon dioxide is used as a transient directing group which facilitates a palladium catalyzed arylation meta to the phenol hydroxyl group with iodoarenes. This transformation proceeds with complete meta-selectivity and is compatible with a variety of functional groups both in the phenol and in the iodoarene coupling partner.

Overriding ortho-para selectivity via a traceless directing group relay strategy: the meta-selective arylation of phenols.

The Pd-catalyzed ortho-selective direct arylation of benzoic acids with aryl iodides is followed by protodecarboxylation to allow the access to various meta-substituted biaryls as synthetically important subunits.

Igor Larrosa

Papers

Gold-mediated C–H bond functionalisation

Room temperature and phosphine free palladium catalyzed direct C-2 arylation of indoles

Overriding ortho-para selectivity via a traceless directing group relay strategy: the meta-selective arylation of phenols.

Carboxylic acids as traceless directing groups for formal meta-selective direct arylation.

Intermolecular decarboxylative direct C-3 arylation of indoles with benzoic acids.