Iron catalyzed C[sbnd]N bond formation

Diversely functionalized nitrogen-containing heteroaromatic building blocks, fine chemicals and active pharmaceutical or agrochemical ingredients are conveniently prepared via C[sbnd]N bond formation as the key step. Since beginning of the last decade, there has been a flurry of intense research in forging C[sbnd]N bonds using iron catalysts due to their low cost, high natural abundance and non-toxic nature. The present review offers an overview of C[sbnd]N bond forming reactions involving aryl, allyl, propargyl and unactivated alkyl electrophilic substrates with nitrogen nucleophiles via the regular cross coupling reactions catalyzed by iron. In the miscellaneous section, a set of novel transformations facilitated by iron are included as well.