Decarboxylative coupling reactions: a modern strategy for C-C-bond formation.

This critical review examines transition metal-catalyzed decarboxylative couplings that have emerged within recent years as a powerful strategy to form carbon-carbon or carbon-heteroatom bonds starting from carboxylic acids. In these reactions, C-C bonds to carboxylate groups are cleaved, and in their place, new carbon-carbon bonds are formed. Decarboxylative cross-couplings constitute advantageous alternatives to traditional cross-coupling or addition reactions involving preformed organometallic reagents. Decarboxylative reaction variants are also known for Heck reactions, direct arylation processes, and carbon-heteroatom bond forming reactions. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011