Rhodium Carbene Complexes: Highly Selective Catalysts for the Hydroformylation of Styrene Derivatives

Metal-catalyzed regiodivergent organic reactions

This review discusses metal-catalysed regiodivergent additions, allylic substitutions, CH-activation, cross-couplings and intra- or intermolecular cyclisations.

C–H activation-annulation on the N-heterocyclic carbene platform

This review highlights the initial development of a new C–H activation–annulation chemistry accessible on the metal–N-heterocyclic carbene platform.

Recent progress in rhodium-catalyzed hydroaminomethylation

This review covers the recent studies featuring the development of catalysts for alkene hydroaminomethylation.

Asymmetric borylation of α,β-unsaturated esters catalyzed by novel ring expanded N-heterocyclic carbenes based on chiral 3,4-dihydro-quinazolinium compounds

A series of chiral 6-membered ring N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) precursors based on 3,4-dihydro-quinazoline were synthesized with overall yields of 54-62%. NHCs generated from these precursors show excellent asymmetric catalytic properties for borylation of α,β-unsaturated esters with enantioselectivity of up to 93% with a catalyst content of only 1 mol%.

N-heterocyclic carbenes: a new concept in organometallic catalysis

N-Heterocyclic carbenes have become universal ligands in organometallic and inorganic coordination chemistry. They not only bind to any transition metal, be it in low or high oxidation states, but also to main group elements such as beryllium, sulfur, and iodine. Because of their specific coordination chemistry, N-heterocyclic carbenes both stabilize and activate metal centers in quite different key catalytic steps of organic syntheses, for example, C-H activation, C-C, C-H, C-O, and C-N bond formation. There is now ample evidence that in the new generation of organometallic catalysts the established ligand class of organophosphanes will be supplemented and, in part, replaced by N-heterocyclic carbenes. Over the past few years, this chemistry has been the field of vivid scientific competition, and yielded previously unexpected successes in key areas of homogeneous catalysis. From the work in numerous academic laboratories and in industry, a revolutionary turning point in oraganometallic catalysis is emerging.

Rhodium(I)–(N-heterocyclic carbene)–diphosphine complexes

Reactions of [RhCl(COE)(IPr)]2 (1) and [RhCl(COE)(IMes)]2 (2) (COE = cyclooctene; IPr = N,N′-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-ylidene; IMes = N,N′-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazolin-2-ylidene) with the diphosphines Ph2P(CH2)nPPh2 and 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)benzene (dppbz) give the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) – diphosphine – rhodium(I) complexes: RhCl(NHC)[Ph2P(CH2)nPPh2] [NHC = IPr, n = 1 (3); NHC = IMes, n = 1 (4); NHC = IPr, n = 2 (5); NHC = IMes, n = 2 (6); NHC = IPr, n = 4 (7); NHC = IMes, n = 4 (8)] and RhCl(NHC)(dppbz) [NHC = IPr (9); NHC = IMes (10)]. All the complexes are characterized by 1H, 31P{1H}, and 13C{1H} NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and mass spectrometry. Complexes 3, 7, and 9 are also characterized crystallographically. In benzene solution, the complexes decompose in the presence of O2 with formation of the diphosphine dioxide, whereas reaction with CO leads to replacement of the NHC ligand to give known carbonyl–diphosphine complexes.