Transition metal–catalyzed alkyl-alkyl bond formation: Another dimension in cross-coupling chemistry

Abstract

Stitching one alkyl group to another Chemical reactions such as Heck and Suzuki coupling facilitate access to an enormous range of relatively flat molecules. This geometrical constraint is associated with the comparative ease of linking together aryl and alkenyl carbons. Choi and Fu review recent developments in forming bonds between the more abundant alkyl carbon centers that underlie diverse molecules with complex three-dimensional structures. Nickel catalysis in particular has emerged as a powerful method to access individual mirror-image isomers selectively and thereby tune the biological properties of the targeted products. Science , this issue p. eaaf7230