The catalytic formation of C–C bonds is one of the most useful transformations in organic synthesis. Over the last decade, the use of transition metal nanoparticles (NPs) in catalysis has attracted much interest and their use in C–C bond formation reactions constitutes one of their most important applications, including the Suzuki, Heck, and Sonogashira reactions. This tutorial review highlights recent work in this active area, considering the stabilising agents used to prepare the NPs, the catalytic results and the recycling possibilities.

The present review describes the contributions and perspectives in the field of the selective hydrogenation of alkynes involving the utilization of colloidal methodologies.

Over the last decade, the hydrogenation of arenes catalysed by soluble nanoparticles has attracted much interest from both academic and industrial research groups due to the milder conditions and the interesting selectivities achieved when compared to those obtained with classical heterogeneous catalysts. When substituted arenes are used as substrates in this reaction, the stereoselectivity is a key objective, and high levels of enantioselectivity are yet to be achieved.

The asymmetric alkoxycarbonylation of vinylarenes catalysed by palladium complexes bearing chiral phosphine ligands has attracted much attention over the last decades. The products of both mono- and bis(alkoxycarbonylation) reactions are important intermediates in the syntheses of pharmaceuticals such as 2-arylpropionic acids, the most important class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In this article, a general overview of the topics will be presented and the recent advances in this field will be particularly detailed. Besides the term alkoxycarbonylation, hydroesterification and hydroalkoxycarbonylation are also used in the literature to describe this reaction. Furthermore, more specific terms such as methoxycarbonylation can be found. In this report, the term alkoxycarbonylation will be used as the general term, and specific terms will be used to unambiguously define which reaction is meant.