A series of metal-catalyzed processes are presented, in which carboxylic acids act as sources of either carbon nucleophiles or electrophiles, depending on the catalyst employed, the mode of activation, and the reaction conditions. A first reaction mode is the addition of carboxylic acids or amides over C-C multiple bonds, giving rise to enol esters or enamides, respectively. The challenge here is to control both the regio- and stereoselectivity of these reactions by the choice of the catalyst system. Alternatively, carboxylic acids can efficiently be decarboxylated using new Cu catalysts to give aryl-metal intermediates. Under protic conditions, these carbon nucleophiles give the corresponding arenes. If carboxylate salts are employed instead of the free acids, the aryl-metal species resulting from the catalytic decarboxylation can be utilized for the synthesis of biaryls in a novel cross-coupling reaction with aryl halides, thus replacing stoichiometric organometallic reagents. An activation with coupling reagents or simple conversion to esters allows the oxidative addition of carboxylic acids to transition-metal catalysts under formation of acyl-metal species, which can either be reduced to aldehydes, or coupled with nucleophiles. At elevated temperatures, such acyl-metal species decarbonylate, so that carboxylic acids become synthetic equivalents for aryl or alkyl halides, e.g., in Heck reactions.

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Auch nichtaktivierte Arylchloride gehen decarboxylierende Kreuzkupplungen ein, wenn ein Katalysatorsystem aus CuI, 1,10‐Phenanthrolin, PdI2 und Di(tert‐butyl)biphenylphosphan eingesetzt wird. Mit diesem System gelingen sowohl die Synthese von Biarylen aus Arencarboxylaten als auch die Synthese von Arylketonen aus α‐Oxocarbonsäuren (FG=funktionelle Gruppe; R=Aryl, Alkyl).

A protocol for the microwave-assisted decarboxylative cross-couplings of carboxylic acid salts with aryl halides has been developed that allows the synthesis of various biaryls and aryl ketones in high yields. After careful adaptation of the bimetallic catalyst system and reaction conditions, these mechanistically complex transformations can now be performed within only five minutes in concentrated solution in a sealed vessel. This greatly simplified reaction protocol is ideally suited for applications in parallel synthesis and drug discovery.

A catalyst system generated in situ from Pd(dba)(2) and tri(o-tolyl)phosphine mediates the coupling of arylboronic acids with alkyl α-bromoacetates under formation of arylacetic acid esters at unprecedented low loadings. The new protocol, which involves potassium fluoride as the base and catalytic amounts of benzyltriethylammonium bromide as a phase transfer catalyst, is uniquely effective for the synthesis of sterically demanding arylacetic acid derivatives.