Synergistic–cooperative combination of enamine catalysis with transition metal catalysis

Abstract

Synergistic-cooperative combination of enamine catalysis with transition metal catalysis is an emerging and exciting field aiming to achieve organic transformations that cannot be accomplished by individual catalysis. The biggest obstacle in this field lies in the catalyst incompatibility arising from Lewis acid-Lewis base interactions. Several strategies including soft/hard combination of a Lewis acid and a Lewis base, the utilization of a chelating ligand, and mixing an ammonium salt with a Lewis acid have been developed to solve the incompatibility problem. A number of new reactions and new reaction modes have been discovered using these strategies. In this review article, we aim to highlight these new discoveries found in the literature.