 
         
         
         Dedicated to the memory of Professor John Fossey
         
         Abstract
         
         
         
            
            
            
The ubiquity of carboxylic acids as naturally derived or man-made chemical feedstocks
               has spurred the development of powerful, decarboxylative C–C bond-forming transformations
               for organic synthesis. Carboxylic acids benefit not only from extensive commercial
               availability, but are stable surrogates for organohalides or organometallic reagents
               in transition-metal-catalysed cross-coupling. Open shell reactivity of carboxylic
               acids (or derivatives thereof) to furnish carbon-centred radicals is proving transformative
               for synthetic chemistry, enabling novel and strategy-level C(sp3)–C bond disconnections with exquisite chemoselectivity. This short review will summarise
               several of the latest advances in this ever-expanding area.
            
            1 	Introduction
            
            2	Improved Decarboxylative Arylations
            
            3	sp3–sp3 Cross-Coupling of Carboxylic Acids with Aliphatic Bromides
            
            4 	sp3–sp3 Cross-Coupling of Carboxylic Acids with Aliphatic Alcohols and Amines
            
            5 	Doubly Decarboxylative sp3–sp3 Cross-Coupling of Carboxylic Acids
            
            6 	Decarboxylative C–C Bond Formation from (Hetero)aryl Carboxylic Acids
            
            7 	Conclusions
            
         
         Key words
decarboxylative - C–C coupling - radicals - carboxylic acids - photoredox catalysis
            - electrochemistry