Abstract: Transition metal catalysis has proven to be a powerful approach for rapidly constructing complex molecules through C–C bond forming reactions. However, unprotected amine and alcohol groups often make for poor substrates for these types of reactions. Our group has worked on developing new strategies to allow unprotected oxidatively-sensitive functional groups to be used directly in C–H activation and alkene functionalization reactions without the need for complex protecting/deprotecting strategies. This is part of an underlying theme in our work to develop more sustainable strategies for synthetic methodology.