Abstract
This chapter reflects the recent development and most significant milestones in the area of iron-catalyzed oxidations and reductions. Several molecular defined or in situ iron catalyst systems have been developed and systematically applied for the catalytic oxidation and reduction of various compound classes and substrates. Especially, for enantio-, chemo-, and stereo-selective redox reactions impressive results were obtained with iron catalysts which do not lag behind those of precious metal catalyst. The chapter mainly highlights some of the most significant results and efficient homogenous copper catalysts for the formation of C?O, C?N, and C?C bonds that have been reported since the renaissance of copper catalysis and will also highlight their use in scalable industrial processes. It also focuses on the cross-coupling reactions involving aryl halides. The renaissance of copper catalysis had a deep impact on the development of efficient procedures for the direct arylation of alcohols with aryl halides.