Rise of the Zinc Age in Homogeneous Catalysis?

Abstract

During the past years a number of interesting zinc catalyzed reactions have been reported, spanning a range from reduction to oxidation, (de)polymerization, synthesis of amines, or cyclopropanation reactions. This Perspective will focus on a selection of recent achievements applying catalytic amounts of zinc in organic transformations and raise the question if zinc can be a future option or tool for organic synthesis.