Mercury-catalyzed synthesis of heterocycles

Due to significant biological activity associated with N-, O- and S-heterocycles, a number of reports for their synthesis have appeared in recent decades. Traditional approaches require expensive or highly specialized equipment or would be of limited use to the synthetic organic chemist due to their highly inconvenient approaches. This review summarizes the applications of mercury metal with emphasis of their synthetic applications for heterocylces. In summary, this review article describes the synthesis of different sized heterocyclic rings containing different heteroatoms.