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Carboxylic acid compounds are important structural units that exist widely in nature; the only byproduct in the decarboxylation process is carbon dioxide, which is non‐flammable, non‐toxic, and easy to remove. Therefore, decarboxylative reactions are of great importance in synthetic chemistry. Heterocyclic compounds are important backbones that constitute a variety of biologically active molecules; therefore, research into the development of new synthetic tactics for heterocyclic derivatives based on decarboxylative cyclization is of great interest. In this paper, we describe metal‐catalyzed, visible light‐driven, electrochemically enabled, decarboxylative cyclization reactions, as well as other types, that have been rapidly developed in the past five years; moreover, for some of these methods, we discuss the scope of their application and the mechanism of the reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inside cover picture, provided by Arjan W. Kleij and co ‐ workers, illustrates an example of regio ‐ directing: a general route towards the regio ‐ selective formation of carbamates derived from substituted cyclic organic carbonates and amines is reported using a readily available organocatalyst (TBD; 1,5,7 ‐ triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec ‐ 5 ‐ ene) under attractively mild reaction conditions. The carbonate substitution pattern and the presence of a ternary intermediate dictate the carbonate bond scission process giving preferentially rise to highly functional carbamates with tertiary alcohol functions. The easy and regio ‐ selective formation of di ‐ carbamates/urethanes shows the potential of this process to become valuable in the context of the preparation of regio ‐ regular oligo/polyurethanes. Details can be found in the full paper on pages 2172 – 2178 (S. Sopeña, V. Laserna, W. Guo, E. Martin, E. C. Escudero ‐ Adán, A. W. Kleij, Adv. Synth. Catal.­ 2016, 358, 2172 – 2178; DOI: 10.1002/adsc.201600290). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The front cover picture, provided by Arjan Kleij and co ‐ workers, illustrates oxetane ‐ based carbamates: oxetane ‐ based carbamate scaffolds are formed using an efficient aluminium catalyst. The process combines three reagents (CO2, oxetanes and amines) in a one ‐ pot approach towards a wide diversity of carbamate structures. The methodology has been applied in the formal synthesis of drug ‐ relevant molecules such as Carisoprodol and the mono ‐ carbamate of Felbatol showing the utility of the new catalytic procedure. The work also illustrates the potential of oxetanes as versatile reagents in pharma ‐ organic synthesis. Details can be found in the full paper on pages 1602 – 1607 (W. Guo, V. Laserna, J. Rintjema, A. W. Kleij, Adv. Synth. Catal.­ 2016, 358, 1602 – 1607; DOI: 10.1002/adsc.201500895). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The front cover picture, provided by Qing ‐ Wen Song and Liang ‐ Nian He, illustrates a silver ‐ catalyzed carboxylative cyclization of propargylic alcohols/propargylic amines with CO2 for the synthesis of α ‐ alkylidene cyclic carbonates/oxazolidinones under ambient conditions without employing any additional organic base and ligand. The synergistic effect of Lewis basic and Lewis acidic species in conjunction with the bulkier counterion, via the alkyl carbonate intermediate, leads to the excellent efficiency. The picture shows an outline of exhaust gas and chemical conversion via a sustainable CO2 recycling process into value ‐ added products using a green catalytic method. Details can be found in the full paper on pages 1251 – 1258 (Q. ‐ W. Song and L. ‐ N. He, Adv. Synth. Catal.­ 2016, 358, 1251 – 1258; DOI: 10.1002/adsc.201500639). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]