Metal-mediated formation of carbon-halogen bonds

Organic halides represent basic starting materials for numerous metal-catalyzed organic transformations. Generally, the carbon-halogen is broken in the first step, that is, an oxidative addition reaction, of the catalytic cycle. On the other hand, very little is known about the reverse reaction, carbon-halogen reductive elimination from a transition-metal center. In this Concept article, we describe the examples of C-(sp³)-halide and C(sp²)-halide reductive-elimination reactions which demonstrate that this type of reactivity can be quite common in organometallic chemistry. Although the thermodynamic driving force for the formation of carbon-halogen bonds is relatively small, the kinetic barrier for these reactions can also be low. Thus, C-halide reductive elimination can compete favorably with the more established organic transformations, such as C-C reductive elimination.