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Updated: Nov 3, 2025

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
Recent advances in N-heterocyclic carbene-based radical catalysis
Takuya Ishii1, Kazunori Nagao1, Hirohisa Ohmiya1,2
1Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kanazawa University Kakuma-machi Kanazawa 920-1192 Japan ohmiya@p.kanazawa-u.ac.jp.
Abstract:
In nature, a number of enzymes use thiamine diphosphate as a coenzyme to catalyze the pyruvate decarboxylation. The resultant enamine, a so-called "Breslow intermediate," is known to perform single electron transfer to various electron acceptors. Inspired by this enzymatic catalysis, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed radical reactions have been developed. This minireview highlights the recent progress and developments in NHC-based radical catalysis. This minireview is categorized according to the reaction types; oxidation type reaction and carbon-carbon bond formation through single electron transfer/radical-radical coupling.
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