Palladium-catalyzed suzuki reaction in aqueous media

Abstract

The palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction has become one of the most powerful tools for sp 2-sp 2 carbon-carbon bond formation. This coupling reaction is increasingly being applied in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, natural products and advanced functional materials. In recent years, developing aqueous systems for the Suzuki reaction has attracted attention from many researchers. This paper reviews the recent progress in the Suzuki reaction using neat water and aqueous-organic co-solvent as reaction media. A large number of different strategies for the Suzuki reaction in water have been developed, in which the authors aim at the solutions to the enhancement of the reactivity of the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki reaction using water-soluble ligands, surfactants, microwave assistance, or ligand-free system. © 2012 Chinese Chemical Society & SIOC, CAS.