Recent advances in palladium-catalysed asymmetric 1,4–additions of arylboronic acids to conjugated enones and chromones

• Jan Bartáček,
• Jan Svoboda,
• Martin Kocúrik,
• Jaroslav Pochobradský,
• Alexander Čegan,
• Miloš Sedlák and
• Jiří Váňa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1048–1085, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.84

• (phosphines, NHC-carbenes, bisoxazolines, pyridine-oxazolines, and miscellaneous) is used. Review Catalytic systems based on phosphine ligands A pioneering work on the enantioselective addition of boron-derived carbon nucleophiles to cyclic enones was published by the group of Miyaura et al. in 2005 [32

• oxidative Heck-type product. The authors stated that as a result of the coordination with PPh3, there is a steric hindrance disfavouring the β-hydride elimination [43]. Catalytic systems based on NHC ligands Historically, the second type of ligands used were N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC). The first use was

• reported in a work Shi and co-workers in 2008 who studied the addition of arylboronic acids to 2-cyclohexenone catalysed by Pd complexes of axially chiral NHC carbenes with two other weakly coordinating ligands [44][45]. The complexes with acetates (PdL7a), trifluoroacetates (PdL7b), and diaquo complex

Using multiple self-sorting for switching functions in discrete multicomponent systems

• Amit Ghosh and
• Michael Schmittel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2831–2853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.233

• BPh4− at the cage [Co6(10')4]12+ (SelfSORT-I). Double self-sorting (only structural) Hahn et al. demonstrated for the first time that poly-NHC ligands furnish metallosupramolecular assemblies through narcissistic self-sorting [53]. The one-pot reaction of the tris-NHC ligands 13–15 with different

• backbones in the presence of Ag2O provided exclusively the three homomeric cylinders [Ag3(13)2]3+, [Ag3(14)2]3+, and [Ag3(15)2]3+ (state: SelfSORT-I in Figure 7). Upon the addition of gold(I) ions, a one-pot transmetalation triggered an exchange of the Ag+ ions for Au+ in the tris-NHC ligand-based cylinders

• (SelfSORT-II). Such type of transmetalation in metal–NHC complexes with a retention of the individual homomeric supramolecular assemblies has not been reported in literature. Recently, a quantitative and reversible structural interconversion of supramolecular structures was achieved by the inclusion and

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

• 100 in good yields and enantioselectivities (21 examples for THCs, up to 98:2 er and 10 examples for THIQs, up to 98:2 er). N-Heterocyclic carbene catalysis N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysis was first used in combination with photoredox catalysis by Rovis in 2012. They showed that iminium ions

• 101 could be generated in an oxidative quenching cycle from THIQs 102 using a ruthenium-based photocatalyst and 1,3-dinitrobenzene (DNB) as a sacrificial oxidant (Scheme 13) [51]. These iminium ions could then be intercepted by a Breslow intermediate 103, formed between aldehydes 104 and the NHC

• 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

Efficient [(NHC)Au(NTf₂)]-catalyzed hydrohydrazidation of terminal and internal alkynes

• Maximillian Heidrich and
• Herbert Plenio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2080–2086, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.175

• Maximillian Heidrich Herbert Plenio Organometallic Chemistry, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Alarich-Weiss-Str. 12, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.16.175 Abstract The efficient hydrohydrazidation of terminal (6a–r, 18 examples, 0.1–0.2 mol % [(NHC)Au(NTf2)], T = 60 °C) and internal

• alkynes (7a–j, 10 examples, 0.2–0.5 mol % [(NHC)Au(NTf2)], T = 60–80 °C) utilizing a complex with a sterically demanding bispentiptycenyl-substituted NHC ligand and the benign reaction solvent anisole, is reported. Keywords: alkyne; gold; homogeneous catalysis; hydrohydrazidation; NHC ligand

• activity of gold complexes in such reactions tends to be higher, when using sterically demanding ligands (NHC, phosphine) [41]. Recently, the hydrohydrazidation of substituted phenylacetylenes using [(Ph3P)Au(NTf2)] as the catalyst was reported by Rassadin, Kukushkin et al. [42]. Catalyst loadings of 6 mol

Metal-free synthesis of phosphinoylchroman-4-ones via a radical phosphinoylation–cyclization cascade mediated by K₂S₂O₈

• Qiang Liu,
• Weibang Lu,
• Guanqun Xie and
• Xiaoxia Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1974–1982, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.164

• sciences over the last few years [1][4][5]. In general, chroman-4-one derivatives could be obtained via a polarity reversal strategy enabled by the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed intramolecular Stetter reaction [6][7][8]. Besides, chroman-4-one derivatives were also constructed via intramolecular

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

• , Janssen-Cilag, S.A., C/ Jarama 75A, Toledo, Spain 10.3762/bjoc.16.159 Abstract The combination of supported ionic liquids and immobilized NHC–Pd–RuPhos led to active and more stable systems for the Negishi reaction under continuous flow conditions than those solely based on NHC–Pd–RuPhos. The fine tuning

• of the NHC–Pd catalyst and the SILLPs is a key factor for the optimization of the release and catch mechanism leading to a catalytic system easily recoverable and reusable for a large number of catalytic cycles enhancing the long-term catalytic performance. Keywords: immobilized catalyst; Negishi

• 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

When metal-catalyzed C–H functionalization meets visible-light photocatalysis

• Lucas Guillemard and
• Joanna Wencel-Delord

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1754–1804, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.147

• merging C–H activation and photocatalysis while using a single metal catalyst. In this case, an original Rh–NHC complex was used for the ortho-directed C–H borylation of phenylpyridine substrates (Figure 40) [102]. As previously, the irradiation with visible light allowed performing this challenging

• -selective C–H alkylations by the nature of the metal-based photoactive species (Figure 41). Indeed, the NHC–Rh complex is believed to be photoactive after coordination of the phenylpyridine substrate. The generated coordination complex becomes excited after the absorption of visible light and thus undergoes

• active NHC–Rh(I) complex. The potential of the above-mentioned reactions is particularly interesting as indeed, a unique, double reactivity might be attributed to a single precatalyst with the in situ formation of photoactive intermediates. Remarkably, the generated metallaphotoredox catalyst is able to

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

• Alyn T. Davies Mark D. Greenhalgh Alexandra M. Z. Slawin Andrew D. Smith EaStCHEM, School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST, United Kingdom 10.3762/bjoc.16.129 Abstract The N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition between α

• ][44][45] in the presence of an oxidant. As representative examples of the use of azolium enolates in reactions with trifluoroacetophenone derivatives, Ye and co-workers have shown that using disubstituted ketenes as azolium enolate precursors and NHC precatalyst 1 allowed access to trifluoromethyl

• -substituted β-lactone products in a high yield, diastereo-, and enantioselectivity (Figure 2A) [46]. Chi and co-workers have reported limited examples of oxidative [2 + 2] cycloadditions using hydrocinnamaldehyde as an azolium enolate precursor and the NHC precatalyst 2, giving β-lactone products in high

Synthesis of esters of diaminotruxillic bis-amino acids by Pd-mediated photocycloaddition of analogs of the Kaede protein chromophore

• Esteban P. Urriolabeitia,
• Pablo Sánchez,
• Alexandra Pop,
• Cristian Silvestru,
• Eduardo Laga,
• Ana I. Jiménez and
• Carlos Cativiela

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1111–1123, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.98

• (m, 1H, H5, C6H3F), 6.40 (d, J = 15.7 Hz, 1H, Hα), 6.01 (s, 1H, cyclobutane), 4.00 (s, broad, 3H, OMe, CO2Me cyclobutane), 3.88 (s, 3H, OMe, Ar–CO2Me); 13C{1H} NMR (75.47 MHz, CDCl3) δ 172.3 (s, CO2Me cyclobutane), 167.9 (s, Ar-CO2Me), 166.6 (s, NHC=O), 161.3 (d, 1JCF = 248.0 Hz, C–F, C6H3F), 142.8

Copper-based fluorinated reagents for the synthesis of CF₂R-containing molecules (R ≠ F)

• Louise Ruyet and
• Tatiana Besset

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1051–1065, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.92

• and characterization of isolable difluoromethylcopper(I) complexes [38]. The latter were prepared in a two-step sequence starting from the corresponding (NHC)CuCl as precursors in the presence of NaOt-Bu followed by the addition of TMSCF2H (Scheme 1). The latter was prepared in a one step synthesis

• ). It is important to highlight that, in the course of their study for the synthesis of a stable and isolable (NHC)CuCF2H complex and the study of its reactivity, Sanford and co-workers demonstrated the possibility to develop a catalytic version of the reaction through the in situ generation of the

• difluoromethylating reagents are expected in the upcoming years. Synthesis of the first isolable (NHC)CuCF2H complexes from TMSCF2H and their application for the synthesis of difluoromethylated arenes from aryl iodides. aYields were determined by 19F NMR with fluorobenzene as the internal standard. bReaction carried

Recent advances in Cu-catalyzed C(sp³)–Si and C(sp³)–B bond formation

• Balaram S. Takale,
• Ruchita R. Thakore,
• Elham Etemadi-Davan and
• Bruce H. Lipshutz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 691–737, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.67

• = Br) led to the same three products in 22%, 10%, and 24% yields, respectively (Scheme 2). Later, a far higher yielding C–Si bond formation (66%) was developed by Hayashi [26]. More precisely, they used a catalytic amount of the complex formed from CuCl and NHC ligand L1, together with Suginome’s

• undergoing proto-demetallation afforded the final product 46 (Scheme 11B). Initially, the reaction was limited to the generation of racemic products. Ultimately, optimization using McQuade’s six membered N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) L2 [37] in combination with CuCl led to conditions applicable to different

• that α-amino esters could be obtained in excellent chemical yields with little erosion in enantiopurity. Similar work was described by Zhao et al. using a C1-symmetric chiral NHC ligand L6 together with catalytic amounts of CuCl. Here again, reactions could be performed on numerous albeit activated

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

• Cu(I)-catalyzed cyclization between CRGO–N3 (93) and 1-propargyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (94) was used to attach the imidazolium moiety to the surface of the CRGO. Finally, a graphene-containing copper complex of N-heterocyclic carbene, (NHC)-Cu (96), was produced via proton exchange of the

• application in CuAAC reactions. Turkowicz, Wilczewska, and co-workers were the first to covalently immobilized a range of NHC–copper(I) and NHC–copper(II) complexes on MNPs [95]. The synthetic process for NHC–copper@MNPs 108–111 can be seen in Scheme 24. Initially, the magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized

• 1,2-dichloroethane by ultrasonication. After adding N,N-diisopropylethylamine, the mixture was heated at reflux for 20 h. The nanoparticles 107 were magnetically separated and finally, the corresponding complexes of copper(I) and copper(II) with the NHC ligands, 108–111, were prepared as shown in

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

• , Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0021, Japan 10.3762/bjoc.16.50 Abstract A chiral phenol–NHC ligand enabled the copper-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate reduction of α,β-unsaturated esters. The phenol moiety of the chiral NHC ligand played a critical role in producing the enantiomerically enriched products. The

• catalyst worked well for various (Z)-isomer substrates. Opposite enantiomers were obtained from (Z)- and (E)-isomers, with a higher enantiomeric excess from the (Z)-isomer. Keywords: catalyst; chiral NHC; conjugate reduction; copper catalysis; enantioselective reaction; Introduction Since the leading

• , while an achiral NHC/copper catalyst has successfully been utilized in this reaction [13]. Meanwhile, we devoted our effort to develop novel enantioselective C–C bond formation reactions utilizing chiral phenol–NHC/copper catalyst systems [14][15][16][17][18], in which the phenol group of the NHC ligand

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

• area, reporting on the synthesis of the first heteroleptic bis-NHC and mixed NHC/phosphine copper(I) complexes [20][21][22]. Interestingly, these new copper-based complexes have shown excellent activity in the [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of azides/sulfonyl azides and alkynes (Scheme 1, right) [22

• obtained by the reaction of the isolated hydroxide derivative [Cu(IPr)(OH)] [29] with pyridinium trifluoromethanesulfonate, while the biscarbene complexes 5 and 6 were obtained from the corresponding [Cu(NHC)Cl] through the in situ formation of the corresponding hydroxide complex [Cu(NHC)(OH)] [20] which

Formal preparation of regioregular and alternating thiophene–thiophene copolymers bearing different substituents

• Atsunori Mori,
• Keisuke Fujita,
• Chihiro Kubota,
• Toyoko Suzuki,
• Kentaro Okano,
• Takuya Matsumoto,
• Takashi Nishino and
• Masaki Horie

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 317–324, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.31

• by polymerization catalyzed by a nickel complex, leading to the regioregular HT polythiophene (Scheme 1) [8][9]. An additional feature of the deprotonative protocol for polythiophene is the possibility to use chlorothiophene 3, in which the use of a nickel N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complex was

Copper-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate addition of organometallic reagents to challenging Michael acceptors

• Delphine Pichon,
• Jennifer Morvan,
• Christophe Crévisy and
• Marc Mauduit

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 212–232, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.24

• -catalyzed conjugate addition of alkyl boranes to α,β-unsaturated 2-acyl-1-methylbenzimidazoles 33 [36]. Based on a previous study dealing with the CuCl/IMes-catalyzed addition of various alkylated 9BBN derivatives [37], the authors screened a set of various chiral NHC precursors. The imidazolium compound

• , Mauduit, Campagne, and co-workers set up a highly enantioselective 1,4-addition of dimethylzinc to a wide scope of α,β-unsaturated acylimidazoles 35 [38]. Among the various ligands screened in combination with copper(II) triflate, the hydroxyalkyl-chelating NHC precursor L14 proved to be the most

• triazacyclophane-based ligand L12. Cu/L13-catalyzed ECA of alkylboranes to α,β-unsaturated acylimidazoles. Cu/hydroxyalkyl-NHC-catalyzed ECA of dimethylzinc to α,β-unsaturated acylimidazoles. Stereocontrolled synthesis of 3,5,7-all-syn and anti,anti-stereotriads via iterative Cu ECAs. Stereocontrolled synthesis of

Allylic cross-coupling using aromatic aldehydes as α-alkoxyalkyl anions

• Akihiro Yuasa,
• Kazunori Nagao and
• Hirohisa Ohmiya

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 185–189, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.21

• rearrangement and then successfully trapped with aryl bromides under palladium catalysis (Scheme 1). This system was extended to an asymmetric version using the chiral α-silyloxybenzylcopper(I) species having a chiral NHC ligand. In the asymmetric system, one example of allylic carbonate was used as the carbon

Progress in metathesis chemistry

• Karol Grela and
• Anna Kajetanowicz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2765–2766, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.267

• by Kotha et al. [4], on artificial metalloproteins by Okuda et al. [5], on stereoretentive ruthenium dithiolate catalysts by Mauduit et al. [6], on unsymmetrical NHC ligands by Grisi et al. [7], on polymers by Kudryavtsev [8] and on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes by Pietraszuk et al. [9

Recent advances in transition-metal-catalyzed incorporation of fluorine-containing groups

• Xiaowei Li,
• Xiaolin Shi,
• Xiangqian Li and
• Dayong Shi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2213–2270, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.218

• fluorination of oxindoles with an axially chiral C2-symmetric N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) palladium complex as a catalyst (Scheme 7a). The corresponding products were obtained in excellent yields but low to moderate enantioselectivities. Meanwhile, Wu and co-workers [42] developed a similar system using a

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

• Kochi in 1970s in the field of catalysis [64][65]. Iron in the form of its salts, oxides, iron–NHC complexes, iron pincer complexes, ferrocenes and half sandwiched iron complexes found to be the center of attraction in the field of catalytic organic synthesis. Variable oxidation states of iron (–2 to +5

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

• the ruthenium centre – “the upper” one is the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand and “the lower” one is the 2-alkoxybenzylidene ligand. These determine the principal catalytic properties of the ruthenium complexes. Many ligands were tested as the upper part in various publications, which concluded

Aqueous olefin metathesis: recent developments and applications

• Valerio Sabatino and
• Thomas R. Ward

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 445–468, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.39

• . Water can lead to the formation of catalytically inactive Ru hydride species. Fürstner et al. isolated these complexes as byproducts during the synthesis of Grubbs second generation-type catalysts with saturated NHC ligands [29]. In this specific case, the formation of the metal hydride complex is

• . 5,000 g·mol−1) [55]. A few years later, Grubbs and co-workers reported the use of NHC complexes containing quaternary ammonium tags [56]. The catalysts 3 and 4 were obtained by the reactions of G-II and the asymmetric Boc-protected derivative 39 with 2-isopropyloxystyrene derivatives 41 and 42 (Scheme 9

• = 205 nM), affording ArM 2 (Scheme 13). From the different organometallic moieties tested, the catalyst containing 2,6-diisopropylphenyl groups on the NHC ligand afforded the highest activity for the aqueous RCM of N,N-diallyltosylamine (21). Metathase ArM 2 performed best in phosphate buffer at pH 5.0

Catalysis of linear alkene metathesis by Grubbs-type ruthenium alkylidene complexes containing hemilabile α,α-diphenyl-(monosubstituted-pyridin-2-yl)methanolato ligands

• Tegene T. Tole,
• Johan H. L. Jordaan and
• Hermanus C. M. Vosloo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 194–209, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.19

• ) of diethyl diallylmalonate with 100% conversion after 30 min, results comparable to the unimolecular catalyst. Denk et al. [9] synthesised N-heterocyclic (NHC) ruthenium alkylidene complexes containing pyridinyl-alcoholato ligands (4). These complexes were tested as precatalysts at different

• precatalysts when compared to 1 and 2 [10]. The pyridinyl-alcoholato Grubbs 2-types exhibited higher activities and selectivities than the Grubbs 1-types and were investigated in more detail. It is clear from the results that the chelating ability of the pyridinyl alcoholato ligands combined with the NHC

• towards the primary metathesis products tetradec-7-ene and ethene, outperformed the other complexes. In a computational study the improved catalytic performance was attributed to strengthening of the Ru–N bond due to steric repulsion between the substituted phenyl group and the NHC ligand [14]. An 8

Ammonium-tagged ruthenium-based catalysts for olefin metathesis in aqueous media under ultrasound and microwave irradiation

• Łukasz Gułajski,
• Andrzej Tracz,
• Katarzyna Urbaniak,
• Stefan J. Czarnocki,
• Michał Bieniek and
• Tomasz K. Olszewski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 160–166, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.16

• -heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand were revealed. The presented methodology allows for preparation of a variety of polar and non-polar metathesis products under environmentally friendly conditions. Keywords: catalysis; green chemistry; microwave; N-heterocyclic carbene; olefin metathesis; ruthenium; ultrasound

• ionic tag attached to the benzylidene ligand, with that of catalyst 1a, bearing an ionic tag placed on the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) fragment. As model reactions we have selected the ring-closing metathesis (RCM) of the water-soluble substrate 6, the homometathesis of alcohol 8, and more challenging

• –d) and also included catalysts having differently sized NHC ligands (2a,c). For testing the catalysts performances, we selected the RCM of the water-soluble substrate 12 (Table 2). Under the reaction conditions the classical catalyst 5 (0.25 mol %) was not soluble resulting in poor yields and

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

• bearing monodentate unsymmetrical N-heterocyclic diaminocarbene ligands is provided. The non-symmetric nature of these NHC architectures strongly influences activity and selectivity of the resulting catalysts. The main achievements that have been accomplished in significant areas of olefin metathesis up

• , ruthenium olefin metathesis complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands, known as second generation catalysts (Figure 1), have shown improved catalytic efficiency over other metathesis catalysts [3][4]. Moreover, their catalytic properties can be finely modulated through variation of the steric

• and electronic properties of the NHC ligand. Significant advances in ruthenium metathesis catalyst design have been achieved by the introduction of unsymmetrically substituted NHC (uNHC) ligands, namely presenting different substituents at the nitrogen atoms. They offer the possibility of strongly