Nickel: The “Spirited Horse” of Transition Metal Catalysis

Decarbonylative organoboron cross-coupling of esters by nickel catalysis

The Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling is a metal-catalysed reaction in which boron-based nucleophiles and halide-based electrophiles are reacted to form a single molecule. This is one of the most reliable tools in synthetic chemistry, and is extensively used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and organic materials. Herein, we report a significant advance in the choice of electrophilic coupling partner in this reaction. With a user-friendly and inexpensive nickel catalyst, a range of phenyl esters of aromatic, heteroaromatic and aliphatic carboxylic acids react with boronic acids in a decarbonylative manner. Overall, phenyl ester moieties function as leaving groups. Theoretical calculations uncovered key mechanistic features of this unusual decarbonylative coupling. Since extraordinary numbers of ester-containing molecules are available both commercially and synthetically, this new ‘ester' cross-coupling should find significant use in synthetic chemistry as an alternative to the standard halide-based Suzuki–Miyaura coupling.

The Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling is a mainstay of organic synthesis, allowing carbon-carbon bond formation between a variety of coupling partners. Here, the authors report a decarbonylative process, whereby alkyl or aryl esters can be coupled with organoboron compounds using nickel catalysts.

Analysis of model Pd- and Pt-containing contaminants in aqueous media using ESI-MS and the fragment partitioning approach

A series of monometallic complexes, homo- and heteronuclear clusters of palladium and platinum were detected and characterized by ESI-MS study of simple Pd and Pt salts using newly-developed fragment partitioning approach for signals assignment.

Bond and small-molecule activation with low-valent nickel complexes

The use of nickel compounds in low oxidation states allowed a variety of useful transformations of interest for academia, industry and in the solution of environmental issues.