Clever ligand design enables alcohol-directed C-H activation

Designer ligands have promoted what the team behind the work believes is the first alcohol-directed activation of unreactive sp³ C-H bonds. Incorporating hydrogen-bonding interactions into the design strengthened and organised the reactive complex, an approach which could be applied to other catalytic systems.

C-H functionalisation is one of the most versatile reactions in organic synthesis but the ubiquity and inertness of these bonds make selective transformations incredibly challenging. Directed C-H activation attempts to overcome this by employing existing functionality within the substrate to anchor the metal catalyst close to a particular bond and carefully designed ligands allow chemists to use carbonyl and nitrogen-containing groups to direct the initial metal association interaction.