C−H Bond Functionalization by Mechanochemistry

The advances made in the mechanosynthesis of inorganic and organometallic complexes and the excellent past developments with metal‐catalyzed cross‐coupling reactions by high‐speed ball milling have sufficienly laid the ground work for the merging of C−H functionalization and mechanochemical techniques. In recent years, the fast development of mechanochemical C−H activation have given us examples of metal‐catalyzed olefinations, amidations, halogenations, and oxidative couplings, among others. This concept article will describe some of the events that led to the development of mechanochemical C−H activation, the current state‐of‐the‐art, the present challenges of this merge, and some unique scenarios in which mechanochemistry could complement the traditional solution‐based approaches. MechanoC‐Hemical activation. An overview is given of the events that led to the merging of mechanochemistry and C−H bond functionalization, state‐of‐the‐art studies, and a perspective for future mechanochemical C−H bond activation studies.