Transition-metal catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling reactions to form C-C bonds involving organometallic reagents as nucleophiles.

Transition-metal-catalyzed coupling reactions have become a versatile tool for chemical bond formation. From the variation of the coupling partners, coupling reactions can be classified into three models: traditional coupling, reductive coupling and oxidative coupling. The oxidative coupling, which is different from the traditional coupling, occurs between two nucleophiles. This critical review focuses on transition-metal-catalyzed oxidative coupling reactions involving organometallic reagents as nucleophiles. Since the scope of the oxidative coupling is highly diversified, this paper only reviews the oxidative coupling reactions concerning C-C bond formation, including the coupling between organometal reagents and hydrocarbons as well as coupling between two organometal reagents. Since terminal alkynes are normally activated by metal salts and in situ form the alkynyl metal reagents in coupling reactions, they are directly considered as organometal reagents in this review. Intramolecular oxidative couplings and oxidative cyclizations are not included in this critical review. Moreover, there are many examples of oxidative coupling leading to the formation of functional materials, such as the oxidative polymerization of thiophenes. Since several reviews in these areas have been published they are not included in this review either (99 references).