Selective Oxygen-Assisted Reactions of Alcohols and Amines Catalyzed by Metallic Gold: Paradigms for the Design of Catalytic Processes

Metallic gold has emerged as a highly successful catalyst for selective oxygen-assisted coupling reactions of alcohols and amines to yield industrially important classes of molecules, including esters and amides. In expanding the substrate scope of this class of reactions, fundamental mechanistic principles determined for simple model systems have been used to predict new reactive pathways for other more complex molecular transformations. Given the importance of these fundamental reaction paradigms, this review aims to consolidate the understanding of oxygen-assisted coupling mechanisms on metallic gold catalysts across a broad range of reported studies, including gas phase and liquid-phase systems. Furthermore, the review indicates areas where additional understanding is still needed, and where collaboration between the gas-phase and liquid-phase catalysis communities would be instrumental in the elucidation of detailed reaction mechanisms.