The ability of platinum and gold catalysts to effect powerful atom-economic transformations has led to a marked increase in their utilization. The quite remarkable correlation of their catalytic behavior with the available structural data, coordination chemistry, and organometallic reactivity patterns, including relativistic effects, allows the underlying principles of catalytic carbophilic activation by π acids to be formulated. The spectrum of reactivity extends beyond their utility as catalytic and benign alternatives to conventional stoichiometric π acids. The resulting reactivity profile allows this entire field of catalysis to be rationalized, and brings together the apparently disparate electrophilic metal carbene and nonclassical carbocation explanations. The advances in coupling, cycloisomerization, and structural reorganization—from the design of new transformations to the improvement to known reactions—are highlighted in this Review. The application of platinum- and gold-catalyzed transformations in natural product synthesis is also discussed.

Catalytic Carbophilic Activation: Catalysis by Platinum and Gold π Acids

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.

3.2. Thienothiophenes 1216 3.2.1. Thieno[3,4-b]thiophene Analogues 1216 3.2.2. Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene Analogues 1217 3.2.3. Thieno[2,3-b]thiophene Analogues 1218 3.3. , ′-Bridged Bithiophenes 1219 3.3.1. Dithienothiophene (DTT) Analogues 1220 3.3.2. Dithieno[3,2-b:2′3′-d]thiophene-4,4-dioxides 1221 3.3.3. Dithienosilole (DTS) Analogues 1221 3.3.4. Cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) Analogues 1221 3.3.5. Nitrogen and Phosphor Atom Bridged Bithiophenes 1222

Functional oligothiophenes: molecular design for multidimensional nanoarchitectures and their applications.

140 years ago Adolf von Baeyer proposed the structure of a heteroaromatic compound which revolutionized organic and medical chemistry: indole. After more than a century, indole itself and the complexity of naturally occurring indole derivatives continue to inspire and influence developments in synthetic chemistry. In particular, the ubiquitous presence of indole rings in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials are testament to the ever increasing interest in the design of mild and efficient synthetic routes to functionalized indole derivatives. This Review emphasizes the achievements in the selective catalytic functionalization of indoles (C-C bond-forming processes) over the last four years.

Catalytic Functionalization of Indoles in a New Dimension

Metal-catalyzed enantioselective allylation, which involves the substitution of allylic metal intermediates with a diverse range of different nucleophiles or S(N)2'-type allylic substitution, leads to the formation of C-H, -C, -O, -N, -S, and other bonds with very high levels of asymmetric induction. The reaction may tolerate a broad range of functional groups and has been applied successfully to the synthesis of many natural products and new chiral compounds.

Metal-catalyzed enantioselective allylation in asymmetric synthesis.

In this Account our recent results in relation to the catalytic and stereoselective Friedel-Crafts (FC) alkylation of indoles are described. Over the last decade, remarkable efforts have been devoted towards the replacement of the primal approaches with new more efficient, reliable, and environmentally benign strategies for the functionalization of indoles. Moreover, the emerging area of catalytic asymmetric FC processes is addressed and some examples of enantioselective alkylations of indoles via 1,4-additionto α,β-un-saturated systems and asymmetric ring-opening reaction of aromatic epoxides are described.

A Journey Across Recent Advances in Catalytic and Stereoselective Alkylation of Indoles

A novel Pd-catalyzed intramolecular allylic alkylation of indoles allows THBCs and THGCs to be effectively synthesized in high yields and excellent enantiomeric excesses (ee up to 97%).

Highly Enantioselective Synthesis of Tetrahydro-β-Carbolines and Tetrahydro-γ-Carbolines Via Pd-Catalyzed Intramolecular Allylic Alkylation

https://www.rsc.org/suppdata/CC/b6/b613019d/b613019d.pdf

Simona Tommasi

Papers

A Journey Across Recent Advances in Catalytic and Stereoselective Alkylation of Indoles

Highly Enantioselective Synthesis of Tetrahydro-β-Carbolines and Tetrahydro-γ-Carbolines Via Pd-Catalyzed Intramolecular Allylic Alkylation

Highly enantioselective nitroaldol reaction catalyzed by new chiral copper complexes

Innovative Catalytic Protocols for the Ring‐Closing Friedel–Crafts‐Type Alkylation and Alkenylation of Arenes

New chiral diamino-bis(tert-thiophene): an effective ligand for Pd- and Zn-catalyzed asymmetric transformations