Rhodium catalysis in the synthesis of fused five-membered N-heterocycles

One of the highly emerging and an important aspect of organic chemistry is the metal catalyzed synthesis of heterocycles. The methodologies used earlier for their synthesis were less approachable to the organic chemist because of their high cost, highly specified instrumentation and inconvenient methods. For both the stereoselective and regioselective synthesis of five-membered nitrogen containing heterocycles, cyclic reactions that are Rh-catalyzed have known to be very efficient. The present review covers the applications of Rh as a catalyst and its importance in the formation of fused five-membered nitrogen heterocycles.