Understanding Reactivity Patterns of Radical Cations

Over the last 15 years electron transfer activation has emerged as a valuable concept for accomplishing novel reactions and has found widespread application in the selective transformation of increasingly complex molecules. This review presents in a conceptualized manner the vast number of radical cation reactions obtained after chemical, electrochemical, and photoinduced one‐electron oxidation. To familiarize the reader with the concepts of electron transfer a simple and straightforward classification of radical cation reactions has been devised to allow the presentation of a manifold of reactions in a readily understandable manner. Whenever possible, thermochemical and kinetic data are provided.