The scarcity of precious metals has led to the development of sustainable strategies for metal‐catalyzed cross‐coupling reactions. The establishment of new catalytic methods using iron is attractive owing to the low cost, abundance, ready availability, and very low toxicity of iron. In the last few years, sustainable methods for iron‐catalyzed cross‐couplings have entered the critical area of pharmaceutical research. Most notably, iron is one of the very few metals that have been successfully field‐tested as highly effective base‐metal catalysts in practical, kilogram‐scale industrial cross‐couplings. In this Minireview, we critically discuss the strategic benefits of using iron catalysts as green and sustainable alternatives to precious metals in cross‐coupling applications for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. The Minireview provides an essential introduction to the fundamental aspects of practical iron catalysis, highlights areas for improvement, and identifies new fields to be explored.

中文翻译：

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药物合成中的铁催化交叉偶联：追求可持续性

贵金属的稀缺性导致了金属催化交叉偶联反应可持续战略的发展。由于铁的成本低，含量多，易获得且铁的毒性极低，因此建立使用铁的新催化方法是有吸引力的。在最近几年中，铁催化交叉偶联的可持续方法已进入药物研究的关键领域。最值得注意的是，铁是在实际的，千克规模的工业交叉联结中已被成功地测试为高效贱金属催化剂的极少数金属之一。在此Minireview中，我们批判性地讨论了在药物合成的交叉偶联应用中，使用铁催化剂作为贵金属的绿色和可持续替代品的战略优势。