NHC-Iron, Ruthenium and Osmium Complexes in Catalysis

Laboratory of Macromolecular Chemistry and Organic Catalysis, Institut de Chimie (B6a), Universite de Liege, Sart-Tilman, 4000 Liege, Belgium 

N-Heterocyclic Carbenes From Laboratory Curiosities to Efficient Synthetic Tools Edited by Silvia Diez-Gonzalez Royal Society of Chemistry 2011 

Because iron is a cheap, abundant, non-toxic, and environmentally benign metal, it has attracted a lot of attention in catalysis over the last few years. In particular, iron-based catalytic systems showed great promise for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds via cross-coupling reactions. In most cases, however, simple inorganic salts or coordination compounds of Fe and Fe are employed as catalyst precursors. Recourse to NFIC ligands to fine-tune the catalytic properties of iron active centres is still scarce in organic synthesis and was documented for only a handful of reactions. Other important transformations mediated by NHC Fe species were found in the related fields of biocatalysis and organometallic synthesis, and will be discussed first. 

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