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.

The direct functionalization of C-H bonds in organic compounds has recently emerged as a powerful and ideal method for the formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. This Review provides an overview of C-H bond functionalization strategies for the rapid synthesis of biologically active compounds such as natural products and pharmaceutical targets.

C-H bond functionalization: emerging synthetic tools for natural products and pharmaceuticals

The direct functionalization of heterocyclic compounds has emerged as one of the most important topics in the field of metal-catalyzed C–H bond activation due to the fact that products are an important synthetic motif in organic synthesis, the pharmaceutical industry, and materials science. This critical review covers the recent progresses on the regioselective dehydrogenative direct coupling reaction of heteroarenes, including arylation, olefination, alkynylation, and amination/amidation mainly utilizing transition metal catalysts (113 references).

Recent advances in the transition metal-catalyzed twofold oxidative C–H bond activation strategy for C–C and C–N bond formation

The applications of copper (Cu) and Cu-based nanoparticles, which are based on the earth-abundant and inexpensive copper metal, have generated a great deal of interest in recent years, especially in the field of catalysis. The possible modification of the chemical and physical properties of these nanoparticles using different synthetic strategies and conditions and/or via postsynthetic chemical treatments has been largely responsible for the rapid growth of interest in these nanomaterials and their applications in catalysis. In addition, the design and development of novel support and/or multimetallic systems (e.g., alloys, etc.) has also made significant contributions to the field. In this comprehensive review, we report different synthetic approaches to Cu and Cu-based nanoparticles (metallic copper, copper oxides, and hybrid copper nanostructures) and copper nanoparticles immobilized into or supported on various support materials (SiO2, magnetic support materials, etc.), along with their applications i...

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00482

Cu and Cu-Based Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Applications in Catalysis.

Wetter is better: The direct arylation of thiazoles on water is quicker, cleaner, and higher-yielding than arylation in org. solvents. The reaction worked under mild conditions for an array of aryl iodides, producing 2,5-diaryl thiazoles in excellent yields. Importantly, novel bi-heteroaryl compds. were produced without the requirement for stoichiometric organometallic coupling agents. [on SciFinder(R)]

Direct Arylation of Thiazoles on Water

An intermol. decarboxylative C-H cross-coupling between oxazoles and thiazoles with the rapid synthesis of functionalized polyazoles is described. E.g., in presence of Pd(OAc)2, copper carbonate, and 1,2-bis(dicyclohexylphosphino)ethane, decarboxylative C-H cross-coupling of thiazolecarboxylic acid I and oxazole II gave 80% bis(azole) III. [on SciFinder(R)]

Decarboxylative C-H cross-coupling of azoles.

The first example of a transition-metal-catalyzed, meta-selective C-H bromination procedure is reported. In the presence of catalytic [{Ru(p-cymene)Cl2 }2 ], tetrabutylammonium tribromide can be used to functionalize the meta C-H bond of 2-phenylpyridine derivatives, thus affording difficult to access products which are highly predisposed to further derivatization. We demonstrate this utility with one-pot bromination/arylation and bromination/alkenylation procedures to deliver meta-arylated and meta-alkenylated products, respectively, in a single step.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/anie.201504390

Ruthenium-Catalyzed meta-Selective C-H Bromination

The synthesis of biaryls from benzyne intermediates offers an alternative strategy to conventional metal-catalyzed cross-coupling approaches. The concept is as old as benzyne itself, being the basis of Wittig's seminal observations on biphenyl synthesis from phenyl lithium and fluorobenzene in 1940. In the intervening 75 years, the transformation has grown to encompass a remarkable scope of reaction classes, and continues to develop as new benzyne precursors enable inventive biaryl syntheses under mild conditions. This review will cover all aryne methods relevant to biaryl synthesis, drawing together key ideas from the older literature involving halobenzene precursors, with a more comprehensive coverage of modern methods using 2-(trimethylsilyl)phenyl triflates and tri-ynes as the source of benzyne. Collectively, we hope to highlight the power of aryne chemistry to access a huge range of biaryl structures from a versatile and highly customizable set of substrates.

Synthesis of biaryls using aryne intermediates

Arylation using diaryliodonium salts generates one equivalent of an iodoarene as a side-product, a significant waste of atom economy. Here, we show that diaryliodoniums can undergo Cu-catalyzed tandem C–H/N–H arylation, producing novel indoles that incorporate both aryl groups from the reagent.

Michael F. Greaney

Papers

Direct Arylation of Thiazoles on Water

Decarboxylative C-H cross-coupling of azoles.

Ruthenium-Catalyzed meta-Selective C-H Bromination

Synthesis of biaryls using aryne intermediates

Atom-Economical Transformation of Diaryliodonium Salts: Tandem C–H and N–H Arylation of Indoles