Recent Progress in Zweifel Olefination: An Update

During the past several decades, Zweifel olefination has emerged as one of the most powerful and reliable tools for constructing C–C double bonds. This reaction features high efficiency, good versatility, nonuse of transition metals, and perfect stereospecificity, which make it superior to many other olefination methods. Since the summary of Zweifel olefination’s 50-years history was published in 2017 by Aggarwal et al., remarkable achievements have been made in terms of employing new organometallic species, proceeding through electrochemical or photochemical pathways, and furnishing new kinds of products. This short review summarizes and discusses the very recent progress in Zweifel olefination and its latest application in natural products synthesis. 1 Introduction 2 Zweifel Olefination with New Organometallic Species 3 Zweifel Olefination with New Migrating Groups 4 Electrochemical and Photocatalyzed Zweifel Olefination 5 New Elimination and Migration Patterns of Zweifel Olefination 6 Zweifel Olefination in Natural Product Synthesis 7 Other Reactions Involving the Zweifel Olefination Mechanism 8 Conclusions and Outlook