Recent Developments in Samarium Diiodide Promoted Organic Reactions

In the early eighties, we introduced samarium diiodide for the transformation of various functional groups. Since then, this reducing agent has been extensively used for the reductive cleavage of single bonds, C-C bond formations, C-N bond formations, and β-elimination reactions. In this Personal Account, we highlight our initial results, as well as some of the contributions from various research groups. Because of space limitations, we arbitrarily select some useful results that have recently been described in literature.