Editorial [Hot Topic: Organometallic Chemistry, Coordination Chemistry and Catalysis (Guest Editor: Julio Perez)]

E-ISSN： 1875-5348|9|7|583-583

ISSN： 1385-2728

Source： Current Organic Chemistry, Vol.9, Iss.7, 2005-05, pp. : 583-583

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Abstract

Advances in transition metal (TM)-catalyzed organic reactions are occurring at a very fast pace, and staying current with the primary literature is a formidable task. Besides, new developments are often published in the form of communications where the range of substrates and experimental conditions are necessarily narrow. Therefore, medium-sized reviews written by practitioners critically summarizing the recent advances in a given area are invaluable. It has been my aim to provide the readership of Curr. Org. Chem. with a selection (admittedly biassed by personal preferences) of topics within the realm of TMcatalyzed organic reactions that can be useful to many and convey where the borders are (or were, at the time manuscripts were finished!) in this fruitful and exciting area.Recent advances in TM-catalysis are highly influenced by general concerns such as atom and energy economy, cleaner (more efficient and selective, with greener solvents) syntheses, use of abundant yet less reactive feedstocks, etc. In this context, Kevin H. Saughnessy and Rebecca B. DeVasher (University of Alabama, USA) reviewed Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions in water (2000-late 2004 period), and Janis Louie (University of Utah, USA) describes recent progresses in TMmediated reactions of carbon dioxide (excluding reductions or reactions that need an oxygen sink) and other heterocumulenes.I have mentioned the fast pace at which developments take place in TM-catalyzed organic reactions. The article by John P. Wolfe and Jennifer S. Thomas (University of Michigan, USA) is restricted to recent (January 2003- July 31, 2004) Pd-catalyzed heterocycle synthesis and functionalization. And it contains nearly 200 references!. Jason A. Halfen (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, USA) also needed to impose a tight time restriction to his review of C-N bond formation via aziridination and amidation. Current efforts in this area include the application of “new” metals, such as iron, the tailoring of new ligands to improve the performance of “old” metals such as copper, and an intense search for new nitrene sources.The status of C-H bond activation is changing from “Holy Grail” to that of a promising tool in organic síntesis, and the area has been the subject of a number of recent reviews. Laurel A. Goj and T. B. Gunnoe (North Carolina State University, USA) focused on TM-catalyzed activation of aromatic C-H bonds in reactions leading to hydroarylation of multiple bonds or oxidative coupling of aromatics and unsaturated substrates.Christopher M. Vogels and Stephen A. Westcott (Mount Allison University, Canada) describe recent advances in metal-catalyzed hydroboration. A few weeks after their paper was finished, the chemical community learned with sadness the passing away of H. C. Brown (Nobel laureate in 1979), whose seminal work in the area dates back to half a century ago.Hydroformylation is an even older reaction (and one for which rhodium is also the metal of choice). Whereas the linear version, a topic dealt with in many organometallic textbooks, remains the preferred one in bulk chemicals production, branched selective hydroformylation, the subject of the review by Matthew L. Clarke (University of St. Andrews, UK) is useful for asymmetric synthesis. In addition, the review will be useful for for any chemist interested in recent developments in phosphine syntesis.Joseph M. Fox and Ni Yan (University of Delaware, USA) discuss, with an emphasis on regio- and stereochemical aspects of the reaction, metal-promoted or catalyzed nucleophilic additions to cyclopropenes, one of the ways to construct cyclopropane rings. As the authors point out, the area is still particularly rich in challenges.I thank the authors for their excellent work, which I hope the readers will find both instructive and inspiring. Also, my gratitude to the anonimous reviewers for their helpful advice.