Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• 24. NHC-catalyzed atroposelective reactions Organocatalysis with N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) became one of the main types of covalent activation strategies, which grew into a very diverse area, allowing the synthesis of a wide array of interesting structures. Also, in atroposelective synthesis, NHC

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

• addition; [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction; hydrosilylation reaction; N-heterocyclic carbenes; NHC–Cu complexes; NHC–Cu complexes as catalyst; Introduction N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are a neutral species having the carbene carbon atom as a part of the nitrogen heterocyclic ring. The transient

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

• -2,3-dihydro-4-quinolones 99 were obtained in good yields of up to 95% and good ee (58–72%) (Table 22) [61]. 2. Covalent-bonding organocatalysis of aza-Michael reactions This category of organocatalysts includes N-heterocyclic carbenes and pyrrolidine derivatives. 2.1 Catalysis by N-heterocyclic

• 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

Asymmetric organocatalyzed synthesis of coumarin derivatives

• Natália M. Moreira,
• Lorena S. R. Martelli and
• Arlene G. Corrêa

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1952–1980, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.128

• ]coumarins are formed with good to excellent yields and enantioselectivities (Scheme 14). N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) have also been successfully used as organocatalysts, in particular, to obtain coumarin derivatives [47]. In this context, Yetra et al. reported a NHC catalyzed reaction of 2-bromoenals 46

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

• 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

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

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

• 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

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-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

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

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

• 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

Fe(II)/Et₃N-Relay-catalyzed domino reaction of isoxazoles with imidazolium salts in the synthesis of methyl 4-imidazolylpyrrole-2-carboxylates, its ylide and betaine derivatives

• Ekaterina E. Galenko,
• Olesya A. Tomashenko,
• Alexander F. Khlebnikov,
• Mikhail S. Novikov and
• Taras L. Panikorovskii

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 1732–1740, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.189

• -alkoxycarbonylpyrrol-3-ylimidazolium salts 1 attracted our attention as the potential precursors of ylides 2, which in principle could be in equilibrium with N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) 3. Furthermore, hydrolysis of 2 could provide an easy access to unknown carboxy-substituted ylides 4, and then could potentially be

A facile synthetic route to benzimidazolium salts bearing bulky aromatic N-substituents

• Gabriele Grieco,
• Olivier Blacque and
• Heinz Berke

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 1656–1666, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.182

• : benzimidazolium salts; bulky ligands; cyclization; ligand design; N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC); ring formation; Introduction Imidazole-based N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are stable systems serving as ancillary ligands mainly to construct organometallic complexes. These NHCs are sterically and electronically

Latent ruthenium–indenylidene catalysts bearing a N-heterocyclic carbene and a bidentate picolinate ligand

• Thibault E. Schmid,
• Florian Modicom,
• Adrien Dumas,
• Etienne Borré,
• Loic Toupet,
• Olivier Baslé and
• Marc Mauduit

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 1541–1546, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.169

• of cocatalyst. While first examples of latent catalysts were based on phosphine-containing ruthenium complexes bearing a Schiff base ligand (O–N) [9] replacement of the phosphine ligand by sterically demanding and strongly σ-donor N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) afforded catalysts with improved

Dimerisation, rhodium complex formation and rearrangements of N-heterocyclic carbenes of indazoles

• Zong Guan,
• Jan C. Namyslo,
• Martin H. H. Drafz,
• Martin Nieger and
• Andreas Schmidt

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 832–840, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.79

• review articles dealing with syntheses [1][2][3][4], synthetic potentials [4], and biological activities [4][5] of this ring system. In view of the rapid development of the class of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] it is not unexpected, that attention was also directed towards the

N-Heterocyclic carbene–palladium catalysts for the direct arylation of pyrrole derivatives with aryl chlorides

• Ismail Özdemir,
• Nevin Gürbüz,
• Nazan Kaloğlu,
• Öznur Doğan,
• Murat Kaloğlu,
• Christian Bruneau and
• Henri Doucet

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 303–312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.35

• with heteroarenes. Keywords: aryl chlorides; atom-economy; C–H bond activation; C–H functionalization; carbenes; palladium; pyrroles; Introduction N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) have emerged as an important class of ligands in the development of homogeneous catalysis [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Such

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

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

• 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

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