Enhanced quantum yields by sterically demanding aryl-substituted β-diketonate ancillary ligands

• Rebecca Pittkowski and
• Thomas Strassner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 664–671, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.54

• demonstrated. Phenyl-substituted N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) as C^C* cyclometalating ligands shift the emission color towards higher energy, due to the strong donor character of NHCs compared to C^N cyclometalating ligands [33][34]. Recently, it was shown that the introduction of sterically demanding aryl

Recent progress in the racemic and enantioselective synthesis of monofluoroalkene-based dipeptide isosteres

• Myriam Drouin and
• Jean-François Paquin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2637–2658, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.262

• -heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs, Scheme 11) [40]. The reaction was first performed on the γ,γ-difluoro-α,β-enal 52 which was synthesized via a Wittig olefination of 50. The resulting monofluoroalkene Boc-Val-ψ[(Z)-CF=CH]-Gly-OEt was obtained in good yield. Afterwards, the γ,γ-difluoro-α,β-enoylsilane 55, obtained

• ]. Indeed, triorganozincates (Me2(R)ZnMgX) were formed in situ and these reagents activated favourably the substrates towards the stereoselective addition of the alkyl chain. To prepare Boc-Val-ψ[(Z)-CF=CH]-Gly-OEt, Otaka’s group developed an intramolecular redox reaction of 3,3-difluoropropenes using N

NHC-catalyzed cleavage of vicinal diketones and triketones followed by insertion of enones and ynones

• Ken Takaki,
• Makoto Hino,
• Akira Ohno,
• Kimihiro Komeyama,
• Hiroto Yoshida and
• Hiroshi Fukuoka

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1816–1822, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.176

• ; N-heterocyclic carbene; ring enlargement; Stetter reaction; vicinal polyketone; Introduction N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been indispensable catalysts for organic synthesis, particularly for umpolung of various functional groups [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. In the Stetter reaction, NHCs

An efficient Pd–NHC catalyst system in situ generated from Na₂PdCl₄ and PEG-functionalized imidazolium salts for Mizoroki–Heck reactions in water

• Nan Sun,
• Meng Chen,
• Liqun Jin,
• Wei Zhao,
• Baoxiang Hu,
• Zhenlu Shen and
• Xinquan Hu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1735–1744, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.168

• –Pd bonds under aqueous reaction conditions often restricted the reuse of the catalyst and led to undesired residues. Therefore, in recent years, efforts have been turned to the development of water-soluble non-phosphine ligands [28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. In this context, N-heterocyclic carbenes

Construction of highly enantioenriched spirocyclopentaneoxindoles containing four consecutive stereocenters via thiourea-catalyzed asymmetric Michael–Henry cascade reactions

• Yonglei Du,
• Jian Li,
• Kerong Chen,
• Chenglin Wu,
• Yu Zhou and
• Hong Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1342–1349, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.131

• strategies with chiral transition metals [27][28][29][30][31][32][33], organocatalysts such as secondary amines [34][35][36], nucleophilic phosphines [26][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], tertiary amines [45], N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) [46][47][48], and cinchona alkaloid derivatives [25][28][49][50

Phosphazene-catalyzed desymmetrization of cyclohexadienones by dithiane addition

• Matthew A. Horwitz,
• Elisabetta Massolo and
• Jeffrey S. Johnson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 762–767, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.75

• developed an acyl anion addition promoted by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) that furnished bicyclic furanones via Stetter addition [21]; later, the You group developed an extension of this theme using the same catalytic manifold [22]. More recently, the Corey group has enabled the enantioselective conjugate

Synthesis of 1-indanones with a broad range of biological activity

• Marika Turek,
• Dorota Szczęsna,
• Marek Koprowski and
• Piotr Bałczewski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 451–494, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.48

• to cis-trihydroxyindano[2,1-a]indan-5-ones 74 (Scheme 25). Another example of the 1-indanone synthesis using N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) has been described by Gravel et al. [50][51]. The benefit of the described reaction was a rapid construction of three new carbon–carbon bonds and a carbon

• obtained from the reaction of o-phthalaldehyde (86) with acetophenone 87 (Scheme 28). Iron(III) complexes of 88a–d turned out to be promising candidates for potential photovoltaic or luminescence applications. An intramolecular hydroacylation, catalyzed by nickel(0)/N-heterocyclic carbenes leading to the

From betaines to anionic N-heterocyclic carbenes. Borane, gold, rhodium, and nickel complexes starting from an imidazoliumphenolate and its carbene tautomer

• Ming Liu,
• Jan C. Namyslo,
• Martin Nieger,
• Mika Polamo and
• Andreas Schmidt

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2673–2681, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.264

• biological activities of NHC complexes [23][24]. In the last decade, attention has also been directed to anionic N-heterocyclic carbenes [25]. In this context, mesomeric betaines are interesting from two viewpoints. They are not only able to undergo tautomerisations to neutral NHCs and thus provide a safe

• been prepared from mesoionic compounds (Figure 1). The carbenes 3 [31] and 4 [32][33] originate from a conjugated ylide and a cross-conjugated mesomeric betaine, respectively. A review elucidates the interconversions of mesomeric betaines to different types of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC, aNHC, rNHC

• ), 6.72 ppm, and 5.81 ppm, respectively. Single crystals of [Rh(7)3] (11) were obtained by slow evaporation of a concentrated solution of 11 in a mixture of EtOAc and MeOH. The single crystal X-ray analysis proved that three anionic N-heterocyclic carbenes 7 serve as bidentate ligands, respectively

Correction: Recent advances in N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalysed benzoin reactions

• Rajeev S. Menon,
• Akkattu T. Biju and
• Vijay Nair

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2124–2124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.201

• Interdisciplinary Science and Technology,Trivandrum 695 019, India.; Fax: +91 471 2491712; Tel: +91 471 2490406 10.3762/bjoc.12.201 Keywords: acyloin reaction; benzoin reaction; N-heterocyclic carbenes; organocatalysis; umpolung; On page 446, column 2, the sentence “Inoue and co-workers found that it promotes

Experimental and theoretical investigations on the high-electron donor character of pyrido-annelated N-heterocyclic carbenes

• Michael Nonnenmacher,
• Dominik M. Buck and
• Doris Kunz

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1884–1896, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.178

• (current address of corresponding author) 10.3762/bjoc.12.178 Abstract Rh(CO)2Cl(NHC) complexes of dipyrido-annelated N-heterocyclic carbenes were prepared. From the C–H coupling constant of the respective imidazolium salts and the N–C–N angle of the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC), a weaker σ-donor

• ; electron donor character; N-heterocyclic carbene; rhodium; Introduction N-Heterocyclic carbenes form a ligand class that is typically characterized by a strong σ-donor and a weak or even negligible π-acceptor effect [1][2][3], although Meyer has shown pronounced π-acceptor ability in Cu complexes [4][5][6

• ]. In recent years many varieties of N-heterocyclic carbenes have been synthesized [7][8], focusing mainly on a strong σ-donor character, for example by increasing the ring-size [9][10][11][12][13][14][15], substituting one nitrogen atom by carbon [16][17] or using diamido backbones [18][19] and only

Reactivity studies of pincer bis-protic N-heterocyclic carbene complexes of platinum and palladium under basic conditions

• David C. Marelius,
• Curtis E. Moore,
• Arnold L. Rheingold and
• Douglas B. Grotjahn

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1334–1339, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.126

• dibasic complex 8. Keywords: NHC; 15N NMR spectroscopy; palladium; platinum; protic N-heterocyclic carbene; Introduction N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been extensively researched for a number of purposes since 1991 when Arduengo first isolated free NHCs [1][2][3]. NHCs as ligands have been known

Recent advances in N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalysed benzoin reactions

• Rajeev S. Menon,
• Akkattu T. Biju and
• Vijay Nair

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 444–461, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.47

• Interdisciplinary Science and Technology,Trivandrum 695 019, India.; Fax: +91 471 2491712; Tel: +91 471 2490406 10.3762/bjoc.12.47 Abstract N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have emerged as a powerful class of organocatalysts that mediate a variety of organic transformations. The Benzoin reaction constitutes one of

• ; benzoin reaction; N-heterocyclic carbenes; organocatalysis; umpolung; Introduction The benzoin reaction (or condensation) is named after the product it furnishes via a catalytic assembly of two molecules of aromatic aldehydes. One molecule of the aldehyde functions as an acyl anion and the other as a

• rekindling of interest in NHC-catalysed benzoin reactions coincided with the emergence of N-heterocyclic carbenes in the late twentieth century as non-toxic, readily available and versatile catalysts for a variety of organic transformations. Since then, a number of reports on a variety of benzoin reactions

Scope and limitations of the dual-gold-catalysed hydrophenoxylation of alkynes

• Adrián Gómez-Suárez,
• Yoshihiro Oonishi,
• Anthony R. Martin and
• Steven P. Nolan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 172–178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.19

• in unsymmetrical alkynes can help to achieve high regioselectivity in the hydrophenoxylation. Keywords: cooperative catalysis; gold catalysis; hydrophenoxylation; N-heterocyclic carbene; vinyl ethers; Introduction During the last 30 years, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have evolved from mere

Versatile deprotonated NHC: C,N-bridged dinuclear iridium and rhodium complexes

• Albert Poater

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 117–124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.13

• ; iridium; isomerization; N-heterocyclic carbene; rhodium; Introduction In the framework of organometallic chemistry, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) centre a well stablished class of relatively new ligands since in 1991 Arduengo and collaborators isolated the first stable NHC of the imidazole type with

N-Methylphthalimide-substituted benzimidazolium salts and PEPPSI Pd–NHC complexes: synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity in carbon–carbon bond-forming reactions

• Senem Akkoç,
• Yetkin Gök,
• İlhan Özer İlhan and
• Veysel Kayser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 81–88, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.9

• with 4-chlorotoluene. Keywords: arylation; benzimidazolium salts; catalysis; N-heterocyclic carbene; PEPPSI complex; Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction; Introduction The use of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) as ligands was started by Wanzlick [1] and Öfele [2] almost fifty years ago. There have

Effective immobilisation of a metathesis catalyst bearing an ammonium-tagged NHC ligand on various solid supports

• Krzysztof Skowerski,
• Jacek Białecki,
• Stefan J. Czarnocki,
• Karolina Żukowska and
• Karol Grela

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 5–15, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.2

• metathesis and subsequent reduction of the obtained double bond in one pot. Keywords: catalysis; immobilisation; N-heterocyclic carbenes; olefin metathesis; ruthenium; Introduction Over the past decade olefin metathesis has undergone a grand development. The design of stable and active ruthenium-based

Pyridylidene ligand facilitates gold-catalyzed oxidative C–H arylation of heterocycles

• Kazuhiro Hata,
• Hideto Ito,
• Yasutomo Segawa and
• Kenichiro Itami

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2737–2746, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.295

• strongest electron-donating N-heterocyclic carbenes, resulted in the rate acceleration of the C–H arylation reaction of heterocycles over conventional ligands such as triphenylphosphine and a classical N-heterocyclic carbene. In situ observation and isolation of the 2-pyridylidene-gold(III) species, as well

• -catalyzed reactions, phosphines, N-heterocyclic carbenes, pyridines and salen ligands have been applied as ligands for controlling the stability of catalysts, and chemo-, regio- and enantioselectivities of the reactions [31][32][33][34][35][36]. Recent advances in the gold-catalyzed reactions are

Direct estimate of the internal π-donation to the carbene centre within N-heterocyclic carbenes and related molecules

• Diego M. Andrada,
• Nicole Holzmann,
• Thomas Hamadi and
• Gernot Frenking

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2727–2736, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.294

• calculations and with an energy decomposition analysis. The investigated molecules include N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), the cyclic alkyl(amino)carbene (cAAC), mesoionic carbenes and ylide-stabilized carbenes. The bonding analysis suggests that the carbene centre in cAAC and in diamidocarbene have the

• weakest X→p(π) π-donation while mesoionic carbenes possess the strongest π-donation. Keywords: bonding analysis; N-heterocyclic carbenes; π-donation; Introduction Since the isolation and unambiguous characterization of imidazol-2-ylidene by Arduengo in 1991 [1], the chemistry of stable singlet carbenes

• has become a major field of chemical research [2][3][4]. The outstanding stability and synthetic utility of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) is an ongoing subject to an ubiquitous number of experimental and computational studies exploring their structural and electronic properties [5][6][7][8]. In the

N-Heterocyclic carbenes

• Steven P. Nolan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2474–2475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.268

• Steven P. Nolan Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia 10.3762/bjoc.11.268 The N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) now hold a preferred-ligand status in organic and organometallic chemistry. Their role in catalysis continues to grow. When the

• editorial staff at the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry contacted me to act as a guest editor for the thematic series “N-Heterocyclic carbenes”, I was more than happy to accept what appeared to me to be a simple and exciting endeavor. Indeed, the job was made simple as the number of research groups

Copper-catalyzed stereoselective conjugate addition of alkylboranes to alkynoates

• Takamichi Wakamatsu,
• Kazunori Nagao,
• Hirohisa Ohmiya and
• Masaya Sawamura

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2444–2450, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.265

• as PPh3 and PCy3 or the DPPE bisphopshine was also effective in promotion of the reaction, but resulted in a reduced stereoselectivity (Table 1, entries 2–4). No reaction occurred with N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) such as IMes or IPr (Table 1, entries 5 and 6). The reaction with (IMes)CuCl or (IPr

Copper-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of organometallic reagents to extended Michael acceptors

• Thibault E. Schmid,
• Sammy Drissi-Amraoui,
• Christophe Crévisy,
• Olivier Baslé and
• Marc Mauduit

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2418–2434, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.263

• (CuTC) and (R)-Binap L4, which afforded the desired final products bearing two stereogenic centers with excellent diastereoselectivies (93–97%). N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have emerged, in these last two decades, as a powerful and versatile class of ligands, and appeared to be potent in many

Efficient synthetic protocols for the preparation of common N-heterocyclic carbene precursors

• Morgan Hans,
• Jan Lorkowski,
• Albert Demonceau and
• Lionel Delaude

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2318–2325, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.252

• N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have become a staple of modern synthetic chemistry [3][4][5][6][7]. Over the past twenty five years, they have evolved from laboratory curiosities to ubiquitous ancillary ligands, not only for all the transition metals whether in high or low oxidation state [8][9][10

Convenient preparation of high molecular weight poly(dimethylsiloxane) using thermally latent NHC-catalysis: a structure-activity correlation

• Stefan Naumann,
• Johannes Klein,
• Dongren Wang and
• Michael R. Buchmeiser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2261–2266, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.246

• of Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibers, Körschtalstrasse 26, D-73770 Denkendorf, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.11.246 Abstract The polymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) is investigated using several five-, six- and seven-membered N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). The catalysts are delivered in

• , 1.6 < ÐM < 2.5) in yields >95%, using low catalyst loadings (0.2–0.1 mol %). Furthermore, the results suggest that a nucleophilic, zwitterionic mechanism is in operation, in preference to purely anionic polymerization. Keywords: latency; N-heterocyclic carbenes; ring-opening organocatalysis

• ; polymerization; polysiloxanes; Introduction N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) [1][2][3] have had a resounding impact on organopolymerization [4][5] during the past fifteen years. Considerable research effort has steadily deepened the mechanistic understanding of the polymerization pathways open to NHCs, while the

Half-sandwich nickel(II) complexes bearing 1,3-di(cycloalkyl)imidazol-2-ylidene ligands

• Johnathon Yau,
• Kaarel E. Hunt,
• Laura McDougall,
• Alan R. Kennedy and
• David J. Nelson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 2171–2178, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.235

• -coupling; N-heterocyclic carbenes; nickel; Introduction Nickel catalysis is currently an area of great interest, due to the potential for nickel to replace palladium in some catalytic processes, as well as its ability to perform a much wider range of reactions [1]. Nickel complexes bearing N-heterocyclic

• carbenes (NHCs) [2] are an interesting class of catalysts [3][4], due to the fascinating characteristics of NHC ligands, which can be designed to have a wide range of steric and electronic properties [5][6][7]. Nickel catalysts of the form [Ni(Cp)X(NHC)] have been shown to be versatile and relatively easy

Influence of bulky yet flexible N-heterocyclic carbene ligands in gold catalysis

• Alba Collado,
• Scott R. Patrick,
• Danila Gasperini,
• Sebastien Meiries and
• Steven P. Nolan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 1809–1814, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.196

• transformations has been investigated. Keywords: catalysis; flexible and bulky ligands; gold; ligand design; N-heterocyclic carbenes; Introduction Homogeneous gold catalysis has witnessed an exponential growth in the last 15 years [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Gold complexes have been shown to be

• efficient catalysts in a wide variety of transformations [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) have attracted particular attention as ancillary ligands due to their donating properties and steric hindrance [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. These can be easily tuned by

• modifying the architecture of the imidazole ring, typically, by changing the N-substituents or the backbone [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. One of our research interests is the study of the electronic and steric properties of new N-heterocyclic carbenes and their influence in catalysis upon coordination