Visible-light-driven NHC and organophotoredox dual catalysis for the synthesis of carbonyl compounds

• Vasudevan Dhayalan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2584–2603, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.200

• chemistry. In particular, dual catalysis combining N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) with organophotocatalysts (e.g., 4CzIPN, eosin Y, rhodamine, 3DPAFIPN, Mes-Acr-Me+ClO4−) has emerged as a powerful photocatalytic strategy for efficiently constructing a wide variety of carbonyl compounds via radical cross

• , particularly the synergistic combination of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) with organic photocatalysts, has opened new avenues in molecular construction, particularly for the novel, practical preparation of carbonyl group-containing compounds [13][14][15][16]. These ubiquitous ketone, ester, and amide

• functional groups are found in various drugs, natural products, and optoelectronic materials. In the last three decades, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been renowned as versatile organocatalysts, including thiazolium, imidazolium, and triazolium moieties. NHCs are extensively used in many catalytic

Photochemical reduction of acylimidazolium salts

• Michael Jakob,
• Nick Bechler,
• Hassan Abdelwahab,
• Fabian Weber,
• Janos Wasternack,
• Leonardo Kleebauer,
• Jan P. Götze and
• Matthew N. Hopkinson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1973–1983, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.153

• ; carbonyls; NHCs; photochemistry; reduction; Introduction The introduction and exploration of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) ranks among the most important developments in chemistry research of the last 30 years [1][2][3]. In addition to their numerous valuable roles as ligands, including for important

• transition-metal complexes such as the Grubbs’ second-generation metathesis catalyst, NHCs are now also well-established as organocatalysts. With the first application pre-dating the unambiguous characterization of a free NHC by nearly 50 years, NHCs can facilitate numerous synthetically attractive

• offer many synthetic advantages while the wide availability of chiral NHCs can also allow for high levels of enantioselectivity. As effective enamine and active ester derivatives, Breslow and acylazolium intermediates A and B typically react via classical two-electron polar mechanisms, however, recent

Cu–Bpin-mediated dimerization of 4,4-dichloro-2-butenoic acid derivatives enables the synthesis of densely functionalized cyclopropanes

• Patricia Gómez-Roibás,
• Andrea Chaves-Pouso and
• Martín Fañanás-Mastral

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 877–883, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.71

• a mixture of Z:E isomers (Table 1, entry 8). Having identified the proper combination of base and solvent, we then screened different copper catalysts. Different NHCs, bisphosphines and phosphines were tested (Table 1, entries 9–14) and excellent chemo- and diastereoselectivity was observed in all

A laterally-fused N-heterocyclic carbene framework from polysubstituted aminoimidazo[5,1-b]oxazol-6-ium salts

• Andrew D. Gillie,
• Matthew G. Wakeling,
• Bethan L. Greene,
• Louise Male and
• Paul W. Davies

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 621–627, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.54

• ; imidazolium; NHC; Introduction Imidazolium-derived nucleophilic heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have had a sustained impact across the fields of organometallic and main group chemistry, transition-metal catalysis, materials synthesis and organocatalysis [1]. Laterally annellated polycyclic NHCs offer a useful

• contrast to the most widely used ‘umbrella-like’ NHCs (Figure 1) [2][3]. An extended π-system influences the donor and acceptor properties of the carbene whilst substitution on the polycycle can position groups adjacent to the active centre. The imidazo[1,5-a]pyridin-3-ylidene motif (ImPy), independently

• introduced by the groups of Lassaletta [4] and Glorius [5], is the most widely explored framework for L-shaped ligands (Figure 1a). Even when only considering gold catalysis [6], the ImPy framework has been used to great effect [7]. The motif has been used to introduce sterically demanding NHCs with

1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate as suitable solvent for BF₃: the case of alkyne hydration. Chemistry vs electrochemistry

• Marta David,
• Elisa Galli,
• Richard C. D. Brown,
• Marta Feroci,
• Fabrizio Vetica and
• Martina Bortolami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1966–1981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.147

• -heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), extensively studied as organocatalysts as well as ligands for transition-metal-promoted synthetic methodologies [97][98][99]. Under anodic oxidation, the electrogeneration of boron trifluoride (BF3) from tetrafluoroborate ILs occurs [100][101]. Moreover, we have recently

Aldiminium and 1,2,3-triazolium dithiocarboxylate zwitterions derived from cyclic (alkyl)(amino) and mesoionic carbenes

• Nedra Touj,
• François Mazars,
• Guillermo Zaragoza and
• Lionel Delaude

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1947–1956, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.145

• weaker basicity and greater modularity, the related 1,2,4-triazol-5-ylidene derivatives D have been mainly employed in organocatalysis [6]. Besides these four types of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), other families of cyclic compounds have been actively pursued to further expand the diversity of singlet

• of MIC precursors [24][25][26][27][28]. By analogy with the archetypical NHCs bearing mesityl (Mes) or 2,6-diisopropylphenyl (Dipp) substituents on their nitrogen atoms, we have prepared three triazole derivatives with mixed Mes/Ph, Mes/Bu, or Dipp/Ph substituents on N1 and C4, respectively (Scheme 3

• affinity and the higher basicity of CAACs and MICs vs NHCs [25][69][70][71] did not prevent the formation of the desired adducts using Cs2CO3 instead of KN(SiMe3)2 or NaOt-Bu, as evidenced by the appearance of revealing orange-red colors and by the emergence of a characteristic resonance for the CS2− unit

Application of N-heterocyclic carbene–Cu(I) complexes as catalysts in organic synthesis: a review

• Nosheen Beig,
• Varsha Goyal and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1408–1442, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.102

• Nosheen Beig Varsha Goyal Raj K. Bansal Department of Chemistry, The IIS (deemed to be University), Jaipur, 302 020, India 10.3762/bjoc.19.102 Abstract N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are a special type of carbenes in which the carbene carbon atom is part of the nitrogen heterocyclic ring. Due to

• the simplicity of their synthesis and the modularity of their stereoelectronic properties, NHCs have unquestionably emerged as one of the most fascinating and well-known species in chemical science. The remarkable stability of NHCs can be attributed to both kinetic as well as thermodynamic effects

• caused by its structural features. NHCs constitute a well-established class of new ligands in organometallic chemistry. Although initially NHCs were regarded as pure σ-donor ligands, later experimental and theoretical studies established the presence of a significant back donation from the d-orbital of

Pyridine C(sp²)–H bond functionalization under transition-metal and rare earth metal catalysis

• Haritha Sindhe,
• Malladi Mounika Reddy,
• Karthikeyan Rajkumar,
• Akshay Kamble,
• Amardeep Singh,
• Anand Kumar and
• Satyasheel Sharma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 820–863, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.62

• bond of 105 provides a seven-membered rhodacyclic intermediate 106. The protonation at the Rh–C bond of intermediate 106 in the presence of RCOOH furnishes hydroarylation product 104. Nitrogen heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are of central importance in organometallic chemistry and in organic synthesis

• . Also, metal–NHC complexes have wide application in catalysis and various organic transformations and a range of metal–NHCs served as catalysts. In 2010, using NHC ligands, Yap and co-workers [90] developed a method for the direct para and meta-C–H alkenylation of pyridines with 4-octyne (107) using a

Total synthesis of insect sex pheromones: recent improvements based on iron-mediated cross-coupling chemistry

• Eric Gayon,
• Guillaume Lefèvre,
• Olivier Guerret,
• Adrien Tintar and
• Pablo Chourreu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 158–166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.15

• described an elegant aryl–aryl cross-coupling procedure suppressing the formation of Grignard homocoupling byproducts relying on the use of FeF3 as catalyst, associated with strong N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and a source of fluoride anions [28]. A similar procedure involving sodium alkoxide additives

• and NHCs was also described by Duong for the aryl–aryl cross coupling [29]. Alkoxide salts appear as good alternatives to NMP or phosphate-based additives, since several classic alcohol sources display low toxicities and can also come from renewable resources [30]. In this context, Cahiez and Lefèvre

Redox-active molecules as organocatalysts for selective oxidative transformations – an unperceived organocatalysis field

• Elena R. Lopat’eva,
• Igor B. Krylov,
• Dmitry A. Lapshin and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1672–1695, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.179

• [62] has found numerous applications in oxidative transformations, especially in the CH-functionalization of aldehydes (Scheme 3). It is believed that NHCs reversibly form enaminols (Breslow intermediates, Scheme 3) from aldehydes [63]. In this transformation an electrophilic aldehyde carbon turns to

First example of organocatalysis by cathodic N-heterocyclic carbene generation and accumulation using a divided electrochemical flow cell

• Daniele Rocco,
• Ana A. Folgueiras-Amador,
• Richard C. D. Brown and
• Marta Feroci

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 979–990, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.98

• can be modified by the presence of a base or by a single electron cathodic reduction of the C–H between nitrogen atoms of the imidazolium ring (Scheme 1), inducing the formation of a N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) [7][8]. In recent years, NHCs have achieved great success: they have been frequently used

• NHCs are generated in situ, where they may be used as basic or nucleophilic species. Due to the difficulty isolating highly reactive NHCs, the concentration of the obtained NHC solution can be determined indirectly by addition of elemental sulfur after the electrolysis, which realizes quantitative

• conversion to the corresponding thione (Scheme 2) [12]. NHCs are used as organocatalysts in many reactions of aldehydes (mainly aromatic) [13][14]. In fact, the reaction of NHCs with aldehydes can lead to the formation of the “Breslow intermediate” [15], in which the reactive character of the carbonyl carbon

Recent advances in organocatalytic asymmetric aza-Michael reactions of amines and amides

• Pratibha Sharma,
• Raakhi Gupta and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2585–2610, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.173

• aza-MRs. However, the last three review articles are almost 10 years old and they do not cover the application of many important organocatalysts, such as thioureas and nitrogen heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) used for the asymmetric aza-MRs. Furthermore, in the last review article [24], the application

• carbenes (NHC) In recent years, NHCs have been used as organocatalysts for a wide variety of reactions [62]. Wang et al. investigated the use of several 1,2,4-triazolo-annelated chiral NHCs as organocatalysts to catalyze enantioselective aza-MR between primary amines (100) and β-trifluoromethyl-β

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• catalyst 105, to generate intermediate 106, which can then turn over the NHC and release the desired acylated products 107 in good yields and enantioselectivities (13 examples, up to 96:4 er). There has been little development of enantioselective reactions using NHCs in photocatalysis since this work

• there is much progress yet to be made. Brønsted acid catalysis Using chiral amines and NHCs as catalysts to generate asymmetry relies upon the formation of covalently bonded intermediates such as enamines, iminium ions or Breslow intermediates within the catalytic cycle. The first example of merging non

Synergy between supported ionic liquid-like phases and immobilized palladium N-heterocyclic carbene–phosphine complexes for the Negishi reaction under flow conditions

• Edgar Peris,
• Raúl Porcar,
• María Macia,
• Jesús Alcázar,
• Eduardo García-Verdugo and
• Santiago V. Luis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1924–1935, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.159

• cross-coupling; NHC complex; palladium; supported ionic liquid; Introduction N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are known as efficient coordination ligands for different types of metals. The main feature of NHC complexes is their structural tunability [1]. Thus, their catalytic efficiency can be easily

NHC-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of β-trifluoromethyl-β-hydroxyamides

• Alyn T. Davies,
• Mark D. Greenhalgh,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• Andrew D. Smith

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1572–1578, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.129

• trifluoromethyl ketones (Figure 1C) [20]. Over the last twenty years, NHCs have been widely exploited as highly efficient organocatalysts that have found use in numerous applications and were the subject of many extensive reviews [21][22][23][24][25][26]. Among the most common reactive intermediates generated

• using NHCs, the azolium enolate has been widely used [27][28]. Methods to generate azolium enolates from a number of precursors have been reported, including the use of ketenes [29][30], α-functionalized aldehydes [31][32][33][34][35], enals [36][37][38], aryl esters [39][40][41][42], or aldehydes [43

A systematic review on silica-, carbon-, and magnetic materials-supported copper species as efficient heterogeneous nanocatalysts in “click” reactions

• Pezhman Shiri and
• Jasem Aboonajmi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 551–586, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.52

• acetonitrile at 60 °C for 5 h and then at 100 °C for 40 minutes. The obtained poly(N-heterocyclic carbine–Cu complex) immobilized on nanosilica, (Cu(II)–NHCs)n@nSiO2 (36), was filtrated, washed with acetonitrile/methanol, and dried. The catalyst (Cu(II)–NHCs)n@nSiO2 catalyst (36) showed outstanding activity

Copper-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate reduction of α,β-unsaturated esters with chiral phenol–carbene ligands

• Shohei Mimura,
• Sho Mizushima,
• Yohei Shimizu and
• Masaya Sawamura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 537–543, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.50

• chiral p-tol-BINAP/copper catalyst established the excellent utility of chiral bisphosphine ligands for this type of reaction [4]. Surprisingly, however, chiral ligands based on N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) [12] have not been applied to the conjugate reduction of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

Aerobic synthesis of N-sulfonylamidines mediated by N-heterocyclic carbene copper(I) catalysts

• Faïma Lazreg,
• Marie Vasseur,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• Catherine S. J. Cazin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 482–491, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.43

• , NHCs (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) have become ligands of choice to permit the stabilisation and formation of highly reactive transition metal species [14]. Thus, significant advances have been achieved using this supporting ligand family [15][16][17][18][19]. Recently, our group contributed to this

Architecture and synthesis of P,N-heterocyclic phosphine ligands

• Wisdom A. Munzeiwa,
• Bernard Omondi and
• Vincent O. Nyamori

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 362–383, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.35

• (NHCs) have proved to be versatile ligands in organometallic chemistry [82]. The synthesis of sterically crowded biaryl ligands is still a challenging task, especially under mild reaction conditions. The diphosphine complexes of imidazolylphosphines proved to be an alternative towards the coupling of

Recent advances on the transition-metal-catalyzed synthesis of imidazopyridines: an updated coverage

• Gagandeep Kour Reen,
• Ashok Kumar and
• Pratibha Sharma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1612–1704, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.165

Hoveyda–Grubbs catalysts with an N→Ru coordinate bond in a six-membered ring. Synthesis of stable, industrially scalable, highly efficient ruthenium metathesis catalysts and 2-vinylbenzylamine ligands as their precursors

• Kirill B. Polyanskii,
• Kseniia A. Alekseeva,
• Pavel V. Raspertov,
• Pavel A. Kumandin,
• Eugeniya V. Nikitina,
• Atash V. Gurbanov and
• Fedor I. Zubkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 769–779, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.73

• that NHCs groups, in particular, 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazolidine are superior in terms of price/quality ratio. We suppose that further advances should be rather aimed at the lower part of the ruthenium complex [15][16][17]. This trend is confirmed partly by the Grubbs catalysts with a

Ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts with monodentate unsymmetrical NHC ligands

• Veronica Paradiso,
• Chiara Costabile and
• Fabia Grisi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 3122–3149, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.292

• symmetrical counterparts fail or show poor efficiency [5][6]. Moreover, the use of catalysts incorporating bidentate unsymmetrical NHCs has allowed for significant enhancements in the field of both asymmetric and Z-selective olefin metathesis reactions [7][8][9]. The aim of the present review is to provide a

• description of the catalytic behavior of ruthenium complexes bearing monodentate five-membered uNHCs. A special focus is given to the more recent advancements in the development of such unsymmetrical architectures for targeted metathesis applications. Ruthenium complexes with NHCs presenting alternative

• heteroatoms, such as thiazol-2-ylidene ligands [10], or those containing one nitrogen substituent, such as the series of cyclic (alkyl) (amino) carbenes (CAACs) introduced by Bertrand et al. [11], are not included in this survey. Review Ruthenium catalysts coordinated with N-aryl, N’-aryl NHCs The first

The activity of indenylidene derivatives in olefin metathesis catalysts

• Maria Voccia,
• Steven P. Nolan,
• Luigi Cavallo and
• Albert Poater

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2956–2963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.275

• is ortho-substituted, there might be present steric repulsion with the NHCs, which might in turn facilitate the departure of the indenyl ligand [36]. Apart from reducing decomposition [37][38], this steric pressure should lead to faster rates for the initiation step of the metathesis reaction. This

The influence of the cationic carbenes on the initiation kinetics of ruthenium-based metathesis catalysts; a DFT study

• Magdalena Jawiczuk,
• Angelika Janaszkiewicz and
• Bartosz Trzaskowski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2872–2880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.266

• carbene (NHC) by Arduengo [1] was a milestone in organic chemistry which allowed for thorough and systematic studies on all aspects of NHC chemistry in the past 25 years [2][3][4][5][6][7]. It was soon realized that NHCs are a very useful class of ligands for transition metal catalysis as both their

• steric and electronic properties can be easily controlled and tuned to obtain very efficient and specific catalysts. One of the most successful uses of NHCs in catalysis is the olefin metathesis, which nowadays became one of the most commonly used tool in modern synthesis [8][9][10]. The vast popularity

• ]. Today there are hundreds of examples of second generation Grubbs and Hoveyda–Grubbs catalyst derivatives bearing different NHCs to form specialized catalysts for metathesis [13][14]. An interesting attempt to further modify the electronic properties of NHCs is to introduce a charged moiety to form

Water-soluble SNS cationic palladium(II) complexes and their Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions in aqueous medium

• Alphonse Fiebor,
• Richard Tia,
• Banothile C. E. Makhubela and
• Henok H. Kinfe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1859–1870, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.160

• reactions [32][33]. As it was elegantly reviewed by Singh and co-workers [33], these organosulfur ligands can be classified into pincer type (symmetrical and unsymmetrical), thioethers, thiourea-based ligands, sulfur-substituted NHCs, thiosemicarbazones and sulfated Schiff bases. Of the pincer ligands