Carbometalation of unactivated alkenes by zinc enolate derivatives

Abstract

The carbometalation reaction of zinc enolates and related stabilised organometallics on unactivated double bonds has emerged over the past decade as a mechanistically interesting and synthetically useful reaction. This Perspective is devoted to these challenging and apparently contra-thermodynamic transformations, with a special focus on recent mechanistic considerations involving radical–polar crossover reaction pathways.