Construction of heterocyclic structures by trivalent cerium salts promoted bond forming reactions

Cerium(III) salts have recently gained increasing attention in the synthetic community, owing to the powerful features that are reviewed in detail in this tutorial. This review reports significant examples of cerium(III) promoted synthesis of heterocyclic structures, initially dealing with the synthesis of five- and six-membered ring nitrogen containing heterocycles, then describing the preparation of their oxygenated analogues and finally discussing the achievement of seven-membered rings and mixed heterocyclic motifs.