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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Iron-Catalyzed C–O Bond Activation: Opportunity for Sustainable Catalysis

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Oxygen-based electrophiles have emerged as some of the most valuable cross-coupling partners in organic synthesis due to several major strategic and environmental benefits such as abundance and potential to avoid toxic halide waste. In this context, iron-catalyzed C–O activation/cross-coupling holds particular promise to achieve sustainable catalytic protocols due to its natural abundance, inherent low toxicity, an excellent economic and ecological profile. Recently, tremendous progress has been achieved in the development of new methods for functional group tolerant iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions by selective C–O cleavage. These methods establish highly attractive alternatives to traditional cross-coupling reactions using halides as electrophilic partners. In particular, new easily accessible oxygen-based electrophiles have emerged as substrates in iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions, which significantly broaden the scope of this catalysis platform. New mechanistic manifolds involving iron catalysis have been established, thus opening vistas for the development of a wide range of unprecedented reactions. The synthetic potential of this sustainable mode of reactivity has been highlighted by the development of new strategies in the construction of complex motifs, including in target synthesis. In this minireview, we discuss the most recent advances in sustainable iron-catalyzed cross-coupling of C–O based electrophiles with a focus on both mechanistic aspects and synthetic utility. It should be noted that this catalytic manifold provides access to motifs that are often not easily available by other methods, such as the assembly of stereodefined dienes or C(sp2)–C(sp3) cross-couplings, emphasizing the synthetic importance of this mode of reactivity.