New Copper, Palladium and Nickel Catalytic Systems: An Evolution towards More Efficient Procedures

Abstract

Metal-catalysed reactions are a fundamental tool in synthetic chemistry. Increasingly challenging transformations can be accomplished only by means of certain metal catalysts. However, there still remains the need for a substantial decrease of the amount of catalyst, for better reuse or recycling of such active species, and for the avoidance of relatively toxic solvents in favour of environmentally friendly media. These facts apply to copper-, palladium-, and nickel-catalysed cross-coupling reactions, direct arylations, and oxidative processes. This account summarises our research on the last reactions, featuring an evolution towards more sustainable procedures in this field.

Three Reaction Channels with Signature Proton Transfers in the Ni(I)-Catalyzed Decomposition of Ethyl Acetate

“…Nickel catalysis has gained tremendous interest in the past decade. − The ability of this metal center to change its oxidation state and its location in the periodic table, topping group 10 alongside palladium and platinum, confers this metal a broad range of catalytic capabilities. Nickel has been found to catalyze efficiently almost any flavor of modern organometallic process we can think of: C–H activation processes, − carboxylations, , transamidation and amide alkylation reactions, , additions to unsaturated compounds, , cross-coupling reactions, − photoredox chemistry, − β-hydride eliminations, , bimetallic catalysis, etc.…”