A Review on Oxidative Gold-Catalyzed C-H Arylation of Arenes - Challenges and Opportunities

Cross-coupling strategies have become essential in modern organic synthesis. While palladium has historically dominated this field, other transition metals have arisen as potent and orthogonal alternatives. Gold, typically thought of as just a Lewis acid, has recently demonstrated redox chemistry in several cross-coupling reactions using an external oxidant. One of these branches, oxidative C-H functionalizations, has made significant advances in recent years. Herein, we discuss the discovery and development of gold catalysis in this realm with particular focus on improvements in scope and mechanistic understandings in relation to biaryl couplings.