Interplay of Method Development and Mechanistic Studies - From Aerobic Oxidative Coupling to Radical Reactions via Alkenyl Peroxides.

This account summarizes how scientific advances were made in the authors' research group by combining method development in organic synthesis with detailed mechanistic studies. The discovery of an unexpected autoxidative coupling reaction led, by virtue of an ever increased understanding of its mechanism, to a strategy for green C-H functionalization reactions, novel modes of radical generation, addition reactions of ketones to alkenes and new insights into an old reaction, the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]