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Updated: May 9, 2025

Versatile CO2 Transformations into Complex Products: A One-pot Two-step Strategy
Published on: November 9, 2019
Switching mesoionic carbene-organocatalysis from radical to ionic pathway through base-controlled formation of
Jie Jiao1, Zengyu Zhang1, Guangyin Lu1
1Key Laboratory of Advanced Light Conversion Materials and Biophotonics, School of Chemistry and Life Resources, Renmin University of China Beijing 100872 China yanxy@ruc.edu.cn.
Abstract:
N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) organocatalysis has experienced significant advancements. Two distinct reaction pathways have been developed, ionic and radical, through Breslow intermediates (BIs) and Breslow enolates (BI-s), respectively. The ability to selectively generate these intermediates is crucial for optimizing reaction outcomes. In this paper we show that with mesoionic carbenes (MICs) it is possible to control the formation of BIs versus BI-s, through the use of weak bases and strong bases, respectively. Of particular interest is the coupling of aldehydes and alkyl halides to yield ketones via an ionic pathway.
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