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more physically accessible to the catalyst. The catalyst can also be attracted to a specific loca-tion by binding to a pre-existing functional group within the reactant, thus attacking only a nearby C–H bond. A goal in the area is to understand the relevant selectivity trends from the previous results, in order to predict the out-come in any subsequent case. Predictability is essential for the design of a multistep synthetic route relying on a selective, late-stage C–H activation, because failure at a later step would vitiate the entire scheme. This remarkable work is part of an emerg-ing trend, in which different types of selective, catalytic C–H activation reactions are being successfully applied to more complex mole-cules than previously envisaged (4–6). With the conceptual barrier breached for hydroxylation, further striking applications to complex mole-cules are likely to emerge in the near future