3 Synthetic methods Part (i) Free-radical reactions

Abstract

The following short review covers some highlights of the use of radical reactions in the field of organic chemistry during 2003. It is intended to be illustrative of recent advances in radical chemistry rather than all-inclusive, thus much elegant work reported this year is not described here. Highlights include the continued move away from tin reagents; prominent this year has been the development of phosphorus-based strategies. Stereoselectivity is playing an increasingly important role in radical chemistry with four groups reporting enantiopure hydride sources, a number of excellent auxiliary controlled additions and the first example of catalytic enantioselective radical generation.