This Graphical Review provides an overview of amide bond activation achieved by selective oxidative addition of the N-C(O) acyl bond to transition metals and nucleophilic acyl addition, resulting in acyl and decarbonylative coupling together with key mechanistic details pertaining to amide bond distortion underlying this reactivity manifold.
Keywords: C–N activation; acyl addition; acyl coupling; amide bond activation; catalysis; decarbonylative coupling.