Decarbonylative cross-coupling of amides

Cross-coupling reactions are among the most powerful C-C and C-X bond forming tools in organic chemistry. Traditionally, cross-coupling methods rely on the use of aryl halides or pseudohalides as electrophiles. In the past three years, decarbonylative cross-couplings of amides have emerged as an attractive method for the construction of a wide variety of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds, allowing for the synthetically-valuable functional group inter-conversion of the amide bond. These previously elusive reactions hinge upon selective activation of the N-C(O) acyl amide bond, followed by CO extrusion, in a formal double N-C/C-C bond activation, to generate a versatile aryl-metal intermediate as an attractive alternative to traditional cross-couplings of aryl halides and pseudohalides. In this perspective review, we present recent advances and key developments in the field of decarbonylative cross-coupling reactions of amides as well as discuss future challenges and potential applications for this exciting field.