Alkene/Alkene Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling for C(sp²)-C(sp²) Bond Formation

Conjugated dienes are not only synthetically versatile but are also often found in natural products and bioactive compounds, and various methods have been developed for the stereo- and regioselective synthesis of 1,3-diene structures. Recently, much attention has been paid to transition-metal-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) reactions between alkenes, because they enable the synthesis of 1,3-dienes in few steps from readily available molecules, thus providing atom-economical, environmentally benign synthetic methods. This chapter briefly describes representative examples of alkene CDC reactions between two different alkenes.