Synthetic organic chemistry is equivalent to systematic making and breaking chemical bonds of which the manipulation of carbon-carbon bonds plays an extraordinary role in construction of an organic molecule. Traditionally this chemistry was carried out in organic solutions, however, water or partially aqueous solvents gain more and more significance in organic synthesis recently. To attempt a comprehensive description of this field would be a hopless venture these days, and this chapter gives only examples of the most important ways of carbon-carbon bond formation in aqueous media. . | Chapter 6 Carbon-carbon bond formation Synthetic organic chemistry is equivalent to systematic making and breaking chemical bonds of which the manipulation of carbon-carbon bonds plays an extraordinary role in construction of an organic molecule. Traditionally this chemistry was carried out in organic solutions however water or partially aqueous solvents gain more and more significance in organic synthesis recently. To attempt a comprehensive description of this field would be a hopless venture these days and this chapter gives only examples of the most important ways of carbon-carbon bond formation in aqueous media. Non-catalytic reactions are discussed in several books and reviews published in the last ten years 1-6 and here we shall focus on catalysis of C-C bond formation or rupture by transition metal complexes. In most cases the studies which give the basis of this brief account were motivated by the aims of synthesis and mechanistic details were hardly scrutinized. Consequently although in several reactions the presence of water was found essential in order to obtain good yields or selectivities explanations of these observations often remain elusive. Carbon-carbon cross-coupling reactions such as the Heck Suzuki Sonogashira Tsuji-Trost and Stille couplings are important synthetic methods of organic chemistry and were originally developed for nonaqueous solutions. It has been discovered later that many of the reactions and catalysts do tolerate water or even proceed more favourably in aqueous solvents. The development and applications of these processes in aqueous media is more specifically reviewed in references 7-11 . It is characteristic of this field that the H2O content of the solvent may vary between wide boundaries from only a few to neat water. The other characteristic feauture is in that with a very few exceptions the catalyst is based on palladium with or without tertiary phosphine ligands. Water-soluble phosphines for example TPPTS and TPPMS are .
