The article provides a summary of the recent developments in using carboxylic acids and derivatives as aryl, alkenyl, and alkyl electrophiles for CH functionalization. This manifold exploits ubiquitous carboxylic acids as electrophiles after oxidative addition and decarbonylation in the absence of external oxidants under Rh, Pd, Ni, and Ir catalysis. Mechanistically, acyl RC(O)X bond oxidative addition to low valent metals is followed by decarbonylation, resulting in a net generation of R[M] electrophiles for a broad range of CH functionalization processes. The article covers aroyl chlorides, aroyl fluorides, anhydrides, carboxylic acids, esters and amides, and other related acyl derivatives.
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