Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Palladium N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes: Synthesis from Benzimidazolium Salts and Catalytic Activity in Carbon-carbon Bond-forming Reactions
Published on: July 30, 2017
N-heterocyclic carbenes as organocatalysts
Nicolas Marion1, Silvia Díez-González, Steven P Nolan
1Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Av. Països Catalans, 16, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
Abstract:
Organocatalyzed reactions represent an attractive alternative to metal-catalyzed processes notably because of their lower cost and benign environmental impact in comparison to organometallic catalysis. In this context, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been studied for their ability to promote primarily the benzoin condensation. Lately, dramatic progress in understanding their intrinsic properties and in their synthesis have made them available to organic chemists. This has resulted in a tremendous increase of their scope and in a true explosion of the number of papers reporting NHC-catalyzed reactions. Here, we highlight the ever-increasing number of reactions that can be promoted by N-heterocyclic carbenes.
Related Concept Videos
Heterogeneous Catalysis
Five-Membered Heterocyclic Aromatic Compounds: Overview
Benzene to 1,4-Cyclohexadiene: Birch Reduction Mechanism
Alkynes to Aldehydes and Ketones: Hydroboration-Oxidation
One of the convenient methods for the preparation of aldehydes and ketones is via hydration of alkynes. Hydroboration-oxidation of alkynes is an indirect hydration reaction in which an alkyne is treated with borane followed by oxidation with alkaline peroxide to form an enol that rapidly converts into an aldehyde or a ketone. Terminal alkynes form aldehydes, whereas internal alkynes give ketones as the final product.
ortho–para-Directing Activators: –CH3, –OH, –⁠NH2, –OCH3
Catalysis

