An isolated CH bond in a molecule has a very low reactivity owing to the large kinetic barrier associated to the CH bond cleavage and the apolar nature of this bond. For this reason, the selective reactivity of such a non-functional group is under active study since several decades and is still regarded as the Holy Grail in chemistry. Metal-catalyzed CH activation/functionalization chemistry allows the step-economical and original construction of CC as well as CO and CN bonds starting from hydrocarbons (or hydrocarbon fragments) without the need of prior non catalytic oxidation steps. Furthermore, it can be of utmost importance in the domain of multistep syntheses, and also in transformations of societal significance such as the conversion of methane into methanol. This tutorial review addresses to students and researchers who would like to become acquainted with this fascinating topic. After a brief historical introduction, the main mechanistic fundaments of metal-catalyzed CH activation are exposed. Then, a selection of seminal advances and conceptual breakthroughs are presented.

由于与C H键断裂相关的大动力学势垒和该键的非极性性质，分子中孤立的C H键具有非常低的反应性。因此，几十年来一直在积极研究这种非官能团的选择性反应性，在化学上仍被认为是圣杯。金属催化的C H活化/官能化化学反应可实现C C以及C O和C的分步经济且原始的构建N键从烃（或烃片段）开始，而无需先前的非催化氧化步骤。此外，它在多步合成领域中以及在社会意义上的转化（例如甲烷转化为甲醇）中可能是最重要的。本教程复习针对想要熟悉这个引人入胜的主题的学生和研究人员。在简短的历史介绍之后，金属催化的C H活化的主要机理基础被暴露出来。然后，提出了一些具有开创性的进展和概念上的突破。