Carbon-heteroatom bonds represent omnipresent structural motifs of the vast majority of functionalized materials and bioactive compounds. C-H activation has emerged as arguably the most efficient strategy to construct C-Het bonds. Despite of major advances, these C-H transformations were largely dominated by precious transition metal catalysts, in combination with stoichiometric, toxic metal oxidants. Herein, we discuss the recent evolution of cobalt-catalyzed C-H activations that enable C-Het formations with electricity as the sole sustainable oxidant until May 2018.
Keywords: C−H activation; cobalt; electrochemistry; electrosynthesis; heterocycles.
© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.