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Three-component, iron-based catalytic transformations offer a promising and sustainable approach to building complex molecules in a single step. This Review highlights advances and ongoing challenges in the development of iron-catalysed difunctionalization of alkenes. Mechanistic insights that enhance our understanding and guide the development of new transformations are discussed.

Ring-expanding carbon-atom insertion reactions are currently limited to the installation of few functional groups. Now researchers show the use of a radical carbyne precursor for the insertion of carbon atoms bearing varied functional groups to access 2-substituted naphthalenes from indene.

As aromatic compounds can be obtained easily, their functionalization is a cornerstone of organic synthesis. Here, the authors report a dearomatization of aromatic isocyanides, installing three carbon-carbon bonds, two quaternary stereocenters, and three orthogonal functionalities in one operation.

The Cope rearrangement has been known since the 1940s but, until now, no catalytic asymmetric variant has been reported. Here, a gold(I) catalyst is shown to induce an asymmetric Cope rearrangement of achiral 1,5-dienes containing a cyclopropylidene moiety to produce vinyl cyclopropanes in high yield and good to excellent enantioselectivities.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Reactions have been discovered that selectively transform nitrogen-containing rings, called pyrimidines, into various other ring systems — enabling rapid preparation of compound libraries for pharmaceutical research.

Without directing auxiliaries, the addition of carbogenic groups to unactivated alkenes is typically inefficient and suffers from poor regioselectivity. Now, a directing-group-free, nickel catalyst-controlled strategy has been developed, enabling the site-selective dicarbofunctionalization of a broad array of activated and unactivated alkenes.

Stereoselective synthesis of tri-and tetrasubstituted olefins is challenging due to the usually low energy difference between their E/Z isomers. Now, access to these molecules in high E:Z ratios from monosubstituted olefins is achieved through a sequential nickel-catalysed Heck reaction and alkene migration.

The bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane (BCP) motif has drawn increasing attention recently in drug discovery. Now, a programmable bis-functionalization strategy has been developed to modularly access bridge-substituted BCP scaffolds, based on the inherent chemoselectivity of BCP bis-boronates (3° > 2°). This strategy should enable further structure–activity relationship studies of BCP-containing drug candidates and open the door to unexplored chemical space.

Direct and stereospecific C(sp³)–C(sp²) cross-coupling reactions are highly desirable for the construction of complex molecular scaffolds. Now, using stable and easily accessible alkyl sulfinates as coupling reagents, a modular and programmable sulfurane-mediated coupling method has been developed for the installation of various hindered alkyl bioisosteres, such as trifluoromethyl cyclopropyl, to (hetero)aromatics.

Polypyridine-ligated nickel complexes can mediate a variety of cross-coupling reactions. However, some mechanistic details remain poorly understood. Now, it is demonstrated that the nature of the anionic ligand strongly influences key electron-transfer events in these complexes during elementary reaction steps.

Cross coupling under transition-metal-free conditions is an attractive and economic alternative to traditional transition-metal-catalysed methods. Metal-free coupling of azaallyls has now been demonstrated with vinyl bromide electrophiles, delivering allylic amines in excellent yields. Moreover, mechanistic evidence supports dual reaction pathways triggered by azaallyl anions and radicals.

Contrary to the view that urbanization is a major driver of the global rise in obesity, the global increase in body-mass index is shown to be mostly due to increases in the body-mass indexes of rural populations.