Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Metal-free N-H insertions of donor/acceptor carbenes
Stephanie R Hansen1, Jillian E Spangler, Jørn H Hansen
1Emory University, Department of Chemistry, 1515 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
Abstract:
Synthetically useful transformations arise from the thermal decomposition of aryldiazoacetates in the presence of primary and secondary amines without the use of a metal catalyst. Thermally generated, free donor/acceptor carbenes directly undergo N-H insertion with amines through selective aza-ylide formation to afford a variety of α-amino esters in 53-96% yields.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Carbocations
Properties of Organometallic Compounds
Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution: Elimination–Addition
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Electrophilic 1,2- and 1,4-Addition of X2 to 1,3-Butadiene
Complexation Equilibria: The Chelate Effect

