Recent progress in C(aryl)–C(alkyl) bond cleavage of alkylarenes

Cleavage of the C(aryl)-C(alkyl) sigma-bond is important both in academy and industry as it holds the potential to provide straightforward access to a variety of targets from readily available chemical feedstocks such like alkylarenes. However, C(aryl)-C(alkyl) bonds of alkylarenes remain intact under most conventional reaction conditions. In this review, we highlight the results of recent C(aryl)-C(alkyl) bond cleavages that have been induced by homogeneous transition metal reagents, by oxidative cleavages, and by rearrangement.