The 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Palladium-Catalysed Cross-Coupling

Johnson Matthey, Catalysis and Chiral Technologies, 2001 Nolte Drive, West Deptford, New Jersey 08066, USA; E-mail: colactj@jmusa.com The 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Professor Richard F. Heck (University of Delaware, USA), Professor Ei-ichi Negishi (Purdue University, USA) and Professor Akira Suzuki (Hokkaido University, Japan) for their work on palladium-catalysed crosscoupling in organic synthesis. This article presents a brief history of the development of the protocols for palladium-catalysed coupling in the context of Heck, Negishi and Suzuki coupling. Further developments in the area of palladium-catalysed cross-coupling are also briefly discussed, and the importance of these reactions for real world applications is highlighted.