Gold for C-C coupling reactions: a Swiss-Army-knife catalyst?

For organic chemists, the construction of C-C bonds is the most essential aspect of the assembly of molecules. Transition-metal-catalyzed coupling reactions have evolved as one of the key tools for this task. Lately, gold has also emerged as a catalyst for this kind of transformation. Gold, with its special properties as a mild carbophilic π Lewis acid, its ability to insert into C-H bonds, and, as discovered recently, its ability to undergo redox transformations, offers the opportunity to apply all this potent proficiency for the construction of compounds in an efficient and economical way. This Minireview critically presents the C-C coupling reactions enabled by gold catalysts to encourage further research activities in this promising area of oxidation/reduction gold catalysts.