The reduction of organic nitro compounds by carbon monoxide as an effective strategy for the synthesis of N-heterocyclic compounds: a personal account

Reduction of suitably substituted organic nitro compounds by CO, catalyzed by different metal complexes, affords a variety of N-heterocyclic compounds. Carbon dioxide is the only stoichiometric byproduct. Several inter-molecular condensations have also been developed during the year in which a nitroarene and an alkene, diene or alkyne are reacted together to afford indoles, pyrroles, oxazines or allylic amines. This account focusses on the results obtained by our group in this field in the last 30 years. A special attention is given to the more recently developed inter-molecular reactions.