N-Heterocyclic carbene/Brønsted acid cooperative catalysis as a powerful tool in organic synthesis

• Rob De Vreese and
• Matthias D’hooghe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 398–402, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.43

• Rob De Vreese Matthias D'hooghe SynBioC Research Group, Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium 10.3762/bjoc.8.43 Abstract The interplay between metals and N-heterocyclic carbenes

• -heterocyclic carbenes; stereoselectivity; Introduction Carbenes have been the topic of intensive research for more than 150 years, and they continue to attract considerable attention from chemists to date. Whereas many attempts to isolate methylene or related compounds failed, Fischer provided the first

• -heterocyclic carbenes, such as the benzoin condensation and the Stetter reaction. In these reactions, the NHC effects an “umpolung” of the normal carbonyl reactivity, and the electrophilic aldehyde carbon atom thus becomes nucleophilic and can attack a variety of electrophiles. The story of “umpolung

Recent developments in gold-catalyzed cycloaddition reactions

• Fernando López and
• José L. Mascareñas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 1075–1094, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.124

• the possibility of modulating the properties of the metal through modification of its ancillary ligands (e.g., phosphines, N-heterocyclic carbenes, etc.), which considerably widens the potential and versatility of these catalysts, and in particular of those consisting of cationic gold(I) complexes

The role of silver additives in gold-mediated C–H functionalisation

• Scott R. Patrick,
• Ine I. F. Boogaerts,
• Sylvain Gaillard,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• Steven P. Nolan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 892–896, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.102

• complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) [9][10] as supporting ligands has enabled the isolation of a “golden synthon”, [Au(OH)(IPr)] 1 (IPr = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene), that is able to participate in metalation reactions with aromatic C–H bonds (Scheme 1) [11]. The reactivity

Air-stable, recyclable, and time-efficient diphenylphosphinite cellulose-supported palladium nanoparticles as a catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura reactions

• Qingwei Du and
• Yiqun Li

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 378–385, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.48

• ], N-heterocyclic carbenes [13][14][15], P,O-based ligands [16], bis(thiourea) ligands [17], and thiosemicarbazone [18], etc. However, the separation of the catalyst and ligands from the final product is problematic. In this regard, studies on heterogeneous catalysts have drawn much attention because

Studies on Pd/NiFe₂O₄ catalyzed ligand-free Suzuki reaction in aqueous phase: synthesis of biaryls, terphenyls and polyaryls

• Sanjay R. Borhade and
• Suresh B. Waghmode

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 310–319, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.41

• of phosphorous ligands. Efforts have been made to enhance the catalytic activity by the use of various ligands containing nitrogen or sulfur, as well as phosphines, salen and N-heterocyclic carbenes in traditional organic solvents [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. However, the problems associated

Recent advances in the development of alkyne metathesis catalysts

• Xian Wu and
• Matthias Tamm

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2011, 7, 82–93, doi:10.3762/bjoc.7.12

• starts from N-heterocyclic carbenes 1 which react with trimethylsilyl azide to afford 2-trimethylsilyliminoimidazolines 2. After treatment with methanol, the corresponding imidazolin-2-imines 3 can be conveniently isolated [60]. Deprotonation by alkyl lithium reagents leads to imidazolin-2-iminato

The catalytic performance of Ru–NHC alkylidene complexes: PCy₃ versus pyridine as the dissociating ligand

• Stefan Krehl,
• Diana Geißler,
• Sylvia Hauke,
• Oliver Kunz,
• Lucia Staude and
• Bernd Schmidt

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, 1188–1198, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.136

• catalysts show similar activity in cross metathesis reactions. Keywords: homogeneous catalysis; N-heterocyclic carbenes; olefin metathesis; pyridine ligand; Ruthenium carbene complexes; Introduction Over the past two decades, the olefin metathesis reaction became one of the most important C–C-bond forming

• propargylic alcohols as alkylidene precursors [10], which resulted in the synthesis of a first generation analogue C with an indenylidene ligand [11][12]. A landmark in the evolution of Ru-metathesis catalysts was the introduction of alkylidene complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) [13][14][15], in

Backbone tuning in indenylidene–ruthenium complexes bearing an unsaturated N-heterocyclic carbene

• César A. Urbina-Blanco,
• Xavier Bantreil,
• Hervé Clavier,
• Alexandra M. Z. Slawin and
• Steven P. Nolan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, 1120–1126, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.128

• 10.3762/bjoc.6.128 Abstract The steric and electronic influence of backbone substitution in IMes-based (IMes = 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene) N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) was probed by synthesizing the [RhCl(CO)2(NHC)] series of complexes to quantify experimentally the Tolman

• parameters. Keywords: N-heterocyclic carbene; olefin metathesis; percent buried volume; ruthenium–indenylidene; Tolman electronic parameter; Introduction The use of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) as spectator ligands in ruthenium-mediated olefin metathesis represents one of the most important breakthroughs

Halide exchanged Hoveyda-type complexes in olefin metathesis

• Julia Wappel,
• César A. Urbina-Blanco,
• Mudassar Abbas,
• Jörg H. Albering,
• Robert Saf,
• Steven P. Nolan and
• Christian Slugovc

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, 1091–1098, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.125

• -heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) as co-ligands in ruthenium-based carbene complexes for olefin metathesis [1][2][3] in the late nineties of the last century, olefin metathesis has become a powerful carbon-carbon double-bond-forming tool presenting unique synthetic opportunities [4]. Developments in this area can be

• catalytic performance of the complexes in ring opening metathesis polymerisation, ring closing metathesis, enyne cycloisomerisation and cross metathesis reactions. Keywords: cross metathesis; olefin metathesis; RCM; ROMP; ruthenium; Introduction Since the pioneering reports on the utilisation of N

CAAC Boranes. Synthesis and characterization of cyclic (alkyl) (amino) carbene borane complexes from BF₃ and BH₃

• Julien Monot,
• Louis Fensterbank,
• Max Malacria,
• Emmanuel Lacôte,
• Steven J. Geib and
• Dennis P. Curran

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, 709–712, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.82

• carbenes; stable carbenes; Introduction Lewis acid/Lewis base complexes of N-heterocyclic carbenes and boranes (NHC–boranes) are readily prepared from NHC’s and boranes by direct complexation [1][2][3][4]. Unlike many other classes of Lewis base complexes of boranes with neutral molecules (ethers

• boron [6][7][13]. Most of the first generation carbene-boranes have been made from N-heterocyclic carbenes in which the carbene carbon is stabilized by two donating nitrogen atoms (imidazolylidene, triazolylidene, etc) or other heteroatoms (phosphorous, silicon, oxygen) [14][15][16][17][18]. An

• survive workup and isolation. These results set the stage for further studies of the chemistry of CAAC boranes. Representative complexes of N-heterocyclic carbenes and boranes (NHC–boranes). Bertrand’s amino anthracenyl carbene trifluoroborane complex. X-Ray crystal structures of CAAC–BF3 complexes 3a

Expedient syntheses of the N-heterocyclic carbene precursor imidazolium salts IPr·HCl, IMes·HCl and IXy·HCl

• Lukas Hintermann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2007, 3, No. 22, doi:10.1186/1860-5397-3-22

• prominent members of the family of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) are the sterically encumbered imidazolylidenes IPr and IMes (Figure 1), which can also be considered as analogues of bulky and electron-rich tertiary phosphanes. In contrast to the latter, their synthesis does not involve air-sensitive or