Nitron as new precursor for N-heterocyclic carbene ligands: Synthesis of novel Ru and Pd complexes and their catalytic application

ORGN 192

Kyoung-Ho Park, yaogroup@hotmail.com, Matthew Sheets, msheets@niu.com, and Qingwei Yao. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Illinois University, The Michael Faraday Laboratories, DeKalb, IL 60115
Nucleophilic N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) have emerged as a new class of ligands in transition metal chemistry as evidenced by an explosive utilization of these ligands as phosphine mimics in transition metal-catalyzed organic synthesis. We have found that the commercially available triazolium inner salt, Nitron, can be used as a convenient source of NHC ligands. Novel Ru and Pd complexes were synthesized and characterized. These complexes were found to be highly active catalyst for some important organic transformations such as olefin metathesis and the Heck reaction.