Just Published in European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry

Authors: Ursula S. D. Paul, Udo Radius

Abstract: The first synthesis of cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes (cAACs) was reported in 2005, and since then this class of carbenes has been on a victory tour in main-group-element and transition-metal chemistry. CAACs are easy to synthesize and among the most nucleophilic (σ-donating) and simultaneously most electrophilic (π-accepting) carbenes known to date. These properties have led to a vast number of applications of cAACs in main-group-element chemistry in, for example, the activation of small-molecule compounds and enthalpically strong bonds, as well as in the stabilization of highly reactive main-group-element compounds. They also proved to possess outstanding ligand properties in transition-metal chemistry in, for example, the stabilization of unusual low-valent transition-metal complexes, leading to enormously highly active but robust catalysts. Here a brief overview of cAAC-ligated transition-metal compounds, mainly in low oxidation states, with an emphasis on nickel complexes, is provided, and a personal account of some of the recent developments in the use of cAACs in coordination chemistry and catalysis is given.

Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejic.201700397/abstract