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Updated: Jan 18, 2026

Isolating Free Carbenes, their Mixed Dimers and Organic Radicals
Published on: April 19, 2019
N‑Heterocyclic Carbene Stabilized Aluminum Alkyls and Their Reactivity toward NHC-Alanes
Stuart Burnett1, Alan R Kennedy1, Catherine E Weetman1
1Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, 295 Cathedral Street, Glasgow G1 1XL, United Kingdom.
None:
Herein, we report the synthesis of several new NHC-stabilized aluminum alkyl species [NHCAlR3] (for NHC = ICy, R = Me, iBu; NHC = IMes and IDip, R = iBu) via coordination of the respective free carbene to AlMe3 or AliBu3. Attempts to access Al-Al bonded species (dialumanes) via reactions with the respective NHCAlH3 complexes did not yield the desired Al-(II) complexes via R-H elimination, instead yielding the R/H ligand scrambled complexes NHCAlR2H and NHCAlRH2, respectively. These mixed-ligand species were characterized by 1H, 13C-{1H}, and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, with select cases characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies.
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