Coupling reaction

In organic chemistry, a coupling reaction is a type of reaction in which two reactant molecules are bonded together.

Such reactions often require the aid of a metal catalyst.

In one important reaction type, a main group organometallic compound of the type R-M (where R = organic group, M = main group centre metal atom) reacts with an organic halide of the type R'-X with formation of a new carbon-carbon bond in the product R-R'.

[1][2][3] Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing palladium-catalyzed cross coupling reactions.

[3] Conjugated polymers are prepared using this technology as well.