Lewis Acid Promoted Addition Reactions of Organometallic Compounds

During recent years, great achievements have been made in the field of organometallic chemistry, for which several Nobel Prizes in Chemistry have been awarded. Organometallic chemistry has the potential to combine excellent selectivity and reactivity with low cost, environmental friendliness, and high functional group tolerance. The reactivity of organometallics strongly depends on the character of the metal – carbon, and the addition of nonstabilized organometallic reagents to carbon electrophiles has gained considerable importance in organic synthesis. For organic chemists the Lewis acids are an extremely useful tool that plays substantial roles in overcoming the lack of selectivity in several additions of organometallic compounds. In this chapter of Volume 1 of Comprehensive Organic Synthesis 2nd edition we will take into consideration the ability of Lewis acids to coordinate C=X bonds ( for X=oxygen or nitrogen) and favoring additions of organometallic nucleophiles, and how these can be exploited in organic synthesis.