Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of alkyl halides.

Cross-coupling reactions have become indispensable tools for creating carbon-carbon (or heteroatom) bonds in organic synthesis. Like in other important transition metal catalyzed reactions, such as metathesis, addition, and polymerization, unsaturated compounds are usually employed as substrates for cross-coupling reactions. However during the past decade, a great deal of effort has been devoted to the use of alkyl halides as saturated compounds in cross-coupling reactions, which has resulted in significant progress in this undeveloped area by introducing new effective ligands. Many useful catalytic systems are now available for synthetic transformations based on C(sp(3))-C(sp(3)), C(sp(3))-C(sp(2)) and C(sp(3))-C(sp) bond formation as complementary methods to conventional C(sp(2))-C(sp(2)), C(sp(2))-C(sp) and C(sp)-C(sp) coupling. This tutorial review summarizes recent advances in cross-coupling reactions of alkyl halides and pseudohalides catalyzed by a palladium complex. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011