Catalysis as an important tool of green chemistry

The major advances of the last decade in the catalytic synthesis of organic compounds from the standpoint of the green chemistry principles are surveyed. It is shown that among the most promising approaches to such processes, one should distinguish the use of new catalysts (including nanosized ones) and solvents (water, ionic liquids and fluorous compounds), microwave technologies, supercritical and biphasic media as well as heterogenized catalytic metal complex systems. The major application areas of the metal complex systems comprising hydrogenation, partial oxidation and cross-coupling inlcuding enantioselective reactions are addressed.