Since the discovery of organic azides by Peter Griess more than 140 years ago, numerous syntheses of these energy-rich molecules have been developed. In more recent times in particular, completely new perspectives have been developed for their use in peptide chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, and heterocyclic synthesis. Organic azides have assumed an important position at the interface between chemistry, biology, medicine, and materials science. In this Review, the fundamental characteristics of azide chemistry and current developments are presented. The focus will be placed on cycloadditions (Huisgen reaction), aza ylide chemistry, and the synthesis of heterocycles. Further reactions such as the aza-Wittig reaction, the Sundberg rearrangement, the Staudinger ligation, the Boyer and Boyer-Aube rearrangements, the Curtius rearrangement, the Schmidt rearrangement, and the Hemetsberger rearrangement bear witness to the versatility of modern azide chemistry.

Organic Azides: An Exploding Diversity of a Unique Class of Compounds

Over the last decade, substantial research has led to the introduction of an impressive number of efficient procedures which allow the selective construction of CC bonds by directly connecting two different CH bonds under oxidative conditions. Common to these methodologies is the generation of the reactive intermediates in situ by activation of both CH bonds. This strategy was introduced by the group of Li as cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) and discloses waste-minimized synthetic alternatives to classic coupling procedures which rely on the use of prefunctionalized starting materials. This Review highlights the recent progress in the field of cross-dehydrogenative C sp 3C formations and provides a comprehensive overview on existing procedures and employed methodologies.

The Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling of C sp 3H Bonds: A Versatile Strategy for CC Bond Formations

Starting from the early 1990’s, the chemistry of polyvalent iodine organic compounds has experienced an explosive development. This surging interest in iodine compounds is mainly due to the very useful oxidizing properties of polyvalent organic iodine reagents, combined with their benign environmental character and commercial availability. Iodine(III) and iodine(V) derivatives are now routinely used in organic synthesis as reagents for various selective oxidative transformations of complex organic molecules. Several areas of hypervalent organoiodine chemistry have recently attracted especially active interest and research activity. These areas, in particular, include the synthetic applications of 2-iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX) and similar oxidizing reagents based on the iodine(V) derivatives, the development and synthetic use of polymer-supported and recyclable polyvalent iodine reagents, the catalytic applications of organoiodine compounds, and structural studies of complexes and supramolecular assemblies of polyvalent iodine compounds.

The chemistry of polyvalent iodine has previously been covered in four books1–4 and several comprehensive review papers.5–17 Numerous reviews on specific classes of polyvalent iodine compounds and their synthetic applications have recently been published.18–61 Most notable are the specialized reviews on [hydroxy(tosyloxy)iodo]benzene,41 the chemistry and synthetic applications of iodonium salts,29,36,38,42,43,46,47,54,55 the chemistry of iodonium ylides,56–58 the chemistry of iminoiodanes,28 hypervalent iodine fluorides,27 electrophilic perfluoroalkylations,44 perfluoroorgano hypervalent iodine compounds,61 the chemistry of benziodoxoles,24,45 polymer-supported hypervalent iodine reagents,30 hypervalent iodine-mediated ring contraction reactions,21 application of hypervalent iodine in the synthesis of heterocycles,25,40 application of hypervalent iodine in the oxidation of phenolic compounds,32,34,50–53,60 oxidation of carbonyl compounds with organohypervalent iodine reagents,37 application of hypervalent iodine in (hetero)biaryl coupling reactions,31 phosphorolytic reactivity of o-iodosylcarboxylates,33 coordination of hypervalent iodine,19 transition metal catalyzed reactions of hypervalent iodine compounds,18 radical reactions of hypervalent iodine,35,39 stereoselective reactions of hypervalent iodine electrophiles,48 catalytic applications of organoiodine compounds,20,49 and synthetic applications of pentavalent iodine reagents.22,23,26,59

The main purpose of the present review is to summarize the data that appeared in the literature following publication of our previous reviews in 1996 and 2002. In addition, a brief introductory discussion of the most important earlier works is provided in each section. The review is organized according to the classes of organic polyvalent iodine compounds with emphasis on their synthetic application. Literature coverage is through July 2008.

Chemistry of Polyvalent Iodine

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.

Iron Catalysis in Organic Synthesis

A Versatile C-H Functionalization of Tetrahydroisoquinolines Catalyzed by Iodine at Aerobic Conditions

Regioselective Synthesis of 4-Substituted Indoles via C–H Activation: A Ruthenium Catalyzed Novel Directing Group Strategy

Single-step amination: The N-iodosuccinimide (NIS)-catalyzed amidation of acetophenone derivatives by using tert-butylhydroperoxide (TBHP) as an oxidant is presented. A variety of acetyl derivatives of heterocyclic compounds were easily converted to their corresponding ketoamides under these conditions. A new, NIS-catalyzed amination of propiophenone and its derivatives in the presence of TBHP to furnish the corresponding 2-aminoketone derivatives is the first reported single-step amination of propiophenone derivatives.

NIS-catalyzed reactions: amidation of acetophenones and oxidative amination of propiophenones.

Cross dehydrogenative coupling of tetrahydroisoquinolines (I) and (VI) with enolizable ketones (II) and (IV) as well as phosphonates (VII), resp., proceeds efficiently in the presence of catalytic amounts of DDQ and AIBN (10 mol%).

Kandikere Ramaiah Prabhu

Papers

A Versatile C-H Functionalization of Tetrahydroisoquinolines Catalyzed by Iodine at Aerobic Conditions

Regioselective Synthesis of 4-Substituted Indoles via C–H Activation: A Ruthenium Catalyzed Novel Directing Group Strategy

NIS-catalyzed reactions: amidation of acetophenones and oxidative amination of propiophenones.

CDC reactions of N-aryl tetrahydroisoquinolines using catalytic amounts of DDQ: C-H activation under aerobic conditions.

Recent advancements in dehydrogenative cross coupling reactions for CC bond formation