Rhodium-catalyzed C-C Bond Cleavage Reactions - An Update

The catalytic C-C bond activation by rhodium complexes has found a wide application in organic synthesis. The course of the reaction is usually controlled by the proper ligand environment enabling processes that are otherwise not feasible under classical conditions of organic chemistry. The C-C bond activation can be achieved by the release of ringstrain in cycloalkanes (e.g. compounds possessing three- and four-membered rings), in case of non-strained C-C bonds it could be directed by a neighboring functionality (e.g. carbonyl group), or through initial C-H activation (e.g. aldehyde decarbonylation). Many of these processes have been implemented in syntheses of various natural compounds. The use of chiral ligands has recently enabled to carry many of these reactions in an enantioselective manner.