Organocatalysis and Transition-Metal Catalysis: Key Trends in Synthetic Chemistry and Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Organocatalysis and transition metal catalysis play a fundamental role in current organic synthesis, for the production of high-value-added molecules starting from simple and readily available building blocks under greener and more sustainable conditions. The importance of this topic is clearly demonstrated by the Nobel prize awarded in 2021 to Benjamin List and David MacMillan “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis” and in 2010 to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki “for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis”. In fact, organocatalysis and transition metal catalysis are powerful synthetic methodologies which allow the preparation of complex, multifunctionalized molecules in one step via the assembly of simple building blocks through an ordered sequence of mechanistic steps promoted by either an organic species or a metal center. Although enormous progress has been made in this field in recent decades, this kind of chemistry is bound to become even more important in the future of organic synthesis, owing to the more stringent requirements for the development of highly step- and atom economic sustainable processes, and will continue to attract the interest of chemists around the world, both in academia and industry.

Prof. Dr. Bartolo Gabriele
Prof. Dr. Raffaella Mancuso
Prof. Dr. Zhengguo Cai
Topic Editors