Ligands, Reagents, and Methods in Organometallic Synthesis

This chapter describes some recent trends in organometallic synthesis. We pay particular attention to the types of ligands, reagents, and methods that have become popular during the past decade, and contextualize them within the broad fields of organometallic and inorganic chemistry more generally. The chapter, which is necessarily limited in scope, discusses a range of varied topics including the use of steric bulk in small molecule activation, reversibly cyclometallated species, highly electrophilic organometallics and their corresponding non-coordinating anions, zwitterionic organometallic species, carbene ligands, secondary coordination sphere interactions, fluorous phases, and C atom transfer reagents in organometallic synthesis. Many of the reagents, ligands, and methods employed in these various areas of synthesis are described, and many relevant references are provided.