Catalysts Containing a Preformed

1 Catalysts Containing a Preformed Transition Metal-Carbon Bond 

Transition metal carbene complexes can be divided into two classes electrophilic carbenes (Fischer carbene [69-71], Casey carbene [72,73]) and nucleophilic carbenes (Osborn carbene [74,75], Schrock carbene [76-79])  

Fischer carbene Fischer carbene Casey carbene 

Osborn carbene Schrock carbene Schrock carbene 

As mentioned above, the electrophilic metal carbene complexes are stabilised by the presence of heteroatoms or phenyl rings at the divalent carbon atom, while hydrogen or alkyl groups stabilise the nucleophilic complexes. Therefore, there is a distinction between carbenoids and alkylidenes when designing carbene ligands corresponding to the former or the latter class. 

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