Introduction

Applications of late metal catalysed cross-coupling reactions, involving activation of C-X and C-H bonds (X = halogen), are common place in the synthesis of natural products, therapeutic agents, biological probes, and advanced materials.

Cross-coupling reactions can be simplified by removing the need for reactant prefunctionalisation, although historically this has been difficult to achieve selectively. The organometallic chemistry community has worked on this problem for many years (mainly from a mechanistic perspective), with important advances being made. Very recently (over the last five years or so) the organic community has begun to explore the opportunities for this chemistry in terms of synthetic applications. The synthetic community has recently been alerted to emerging, alternative technologies, and it is now clear that C-H functionalisation processes are set to transform modern synthetic chemistry, in some cases eliminating the need for substrate activation protocols.

Themes

The meeting provided the opportunity to highlight the importance of catalytic bond activation in cross-coupling chemistry. Allowing the latest research to be presented and discussed. 

Key topics that were covered in the discussion meeting include:

• Synthetic chemistry (including applications) 
• Inorganic and Organometallic chemistry
• Reaction mechanism (physical organic and organometallic chemistry)
• Transition metal catalysis     
• Applications of C-H and C-X bond activation in organic synthesis

Scientific Committee

Professor Todd Marder (Durham University, UK) (Chair)
Dr. Phil Dyer (Durham University, UK)
Dr. Ian Fairlamb (University of York, UK)
Professor Sue Gibson (Imperial College London, UK)
Professor Peter Scott (University of Warwick, UK)