Zinc Reagents in Organic Synthesis

Zinc is a metal with a dual identity due to its position in the periodic table. Whilst generally classed as a main group metal on account of its 4s2 3d10 electronic configuration, zinc is situated in the d-block, and thus forms a bridge between main group and transition metal chemistry. Organozinc reagents have, therefore, been used in stoichiometric transformations typically dominated by polar main group organometallics (such as metal-halogen exchange and deprotonative metalation), as well as catalytic transformations traditionally mediated by transition metal catalysts (such as hydrosilylation). There has been an explosion of zinc chemistry over the past 15 years, in both stoichiometric and catalytic regimes, and this chapter presents some of the key developments during this period.