Recent Advances in Radical Reactions of Azo Compounds

Azo compounds have attracted much attention in the past decades, due to their unique properties. Recently, the free radical strategy has been widely applied to the chemical transformations of azobenzenes, dialkyl azodicarboxylates, mainly including hydrogenation and functionalization of N=N double bond, and N-functionalization reactions via the cleavage of the N=N double bonds. In this review, we systematically summarized these reactions as well as their mechanisms are discussed.

Automated summary

Azo compounds have been a topic of great interest in recent decades due to their unique properties. The free radical strategy has been widely used for the chemical transformations of azobenzenes and dialkyl azodicarboxylates, particularly for hydrogenation and functionalization of N=N double bonds, as well as N-functionalization reactions via cleavage of N=N double bonds. In this review, we provide a systematic summary of these reactions and discuss their underlying mechanisms.