Catalytic Oxidative Coupling Reactions for the Formation of Carbon-Carbon Bonds without Carbon-Metal Intermediates

Oxidative coupling reactions offer an elegant method to form a carbon-carbon bond from two carbon-hydrogen bonds. The ubiquity of carbon-hydrogen bonds in organic molecules offers the potential to couple simple starting materials in order to create products of higher complexity in a single step without the formation of unwanted waste products. This article reviews catalytic oxidative coupling reactions that proceed without the formation of intermediate organometallic species bearing carbon-metal bonds, focusing on key developments and recent publications.