Transition-metal catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative-coupling reactions encompass highly versatile and atom economical methods for the construction of various carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds by combining two C(X)-H (X = heteroatom) bonds. Along this line, direct acyloxylation of C-H bonds with carboxylic acids has emerged as a powerful and green approach for the synthesis of structurally diverse esters. In this focus-review we will describe recent progress in direct esterification of aromatic C-H bonds with special emphasis on the mechanistic features of the reactions. Literature has been surveyed until the end of February 2019.
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