Metal-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation Reactions

Recent and seminal developments in homogeneous transition metal-catalyzed aerobic oxidation reactions are discussed with an emphasis on mechanistic models and their roles in improving the synthetic utility of the systems. The field is dominated by palladium catalysts, while those based on copper and other first-row transition-metals are becoming more prominent. One of the major challenges in aerobic oxidation catalysis is achieving high selectivity, especially in the oxidations of complex substrates. The mechanistic roles of ligands, counterions, solvents and additives in providing chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivity are discussed.