Chapters authored
N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (NHCs): An Introduction
In 1991, the isolation and characterization of nitrogen heterocyclic carbene (NHCs) prompted the discovery of a new class of chemical compounds. NHCs have developed academic curiosity as one of the most potent tools in organic chemistry, exhibiting its utility in commercially relevant protocols. NHCs are cyclic compounds with a divalent carbon atom bonded to at least one nitrogen atom. The size of the carbene ring, the substituent moieties on the nitrogen atoms, and the extra atoms within the heterocycle can be changed to produce a variety of distinct NHCs with various electrical properties. They make excellent ligands in coordination chemistry because of their ability to act as donors and the consequent stable bonds with most transition metals. Free NHCs have also been used as organocatalysts in chemical reactions that require no metals. This chapter provides an outline of the N-Heterocyclic Carbenes in Contemporary Chemistry, including their general properties and highlighting the essential structural and electronic features of different NHCs along with their synthetic procedure.
Part of the book: Carbene