Biomass-derived solvents as effective media for cross-coupling reactions and C–H functionalization processes

Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are indispensable tools in molecular syntheses with numerous applications in academia and for the practitioners in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Recent years have witnessed the increasing use of biomass-derived solvents as green reaction media in the palladium-, copper- and nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling technology, the key advances until January 2017 being summarized in this review. In addition, very recent first examples of transition metal-catalyzed C–H activations in biomass-originated solvents, such as γ-valerolactone and 2-MeTHF, are discussed as well.