Regioselective C-H Functionalization of Naphthalenes: Reactivity and Mechanistic Insights

Abstract

Naphthalene is a very important skeleton in chemistry as evidenced by the large number of active compounds that contain it. For this reason, methods that can achieve easy functionalization of naphthalene derivatives are of great importance. This Minireview summarizes reactions that allow regioselective functionalization of 1-substituted naphthalenes based on directed C-H activation strategies. Indeed, over the past ten years, many research groups have tried to develop new methodologies to directly introduce different functional groups on every position of naphthalene. In addition to the possible reactions reported in the literature, special attention has been paid to mechanistic aspects in order to explain the observed regioselectivities.

Keywords: C−H activation; density functional theory; directing groups; metal catalysis; naphthalenes.