Catalytic β-Functionalization of Carbonyl Compounds Enabled by α,β-Desaturation

Capitalizing on versatile catalytic a, beta-desaturation methods, strategies that directly functionalize carbonyl compounds at their less-reactive beta-positions have emerged over the past decade. Depending on the reaction mechanism, general approaches include merging with conjugate addition, migratory coupling, and redox cascade. This perspective provides a summary of transition-metal-catalyzed alpha,beta-desaturation methods and in-depth discussions of each beta-functionalization strategy with their advantages, challenges, and future directions.