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NHC Ligands & Complexes

Common NHC ligand surrounded by metals for catalysis

We are pleased to offer a diverse portfolio of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands and NHC complexes for use in organometallic chemistry and catalysis chemistry applications. NHC-based organocatalysis has become very useful for finding alternative synthetic pathways to target molecules that were previously difficult to produce. 

NHC ancillary ligands are preferable due to their ability to:

  • mediate an incredible breadth of transformations
  • provide robust stability of metal centers
  • bind to any transition metal in high or low oxidation states and to main group elements
  • are more active in many reactions than related phosphine catalysts
  • can be readily modified to incorporate chirality, immobilization, and H2O solubility 

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Our wide range of stable NHC ligands exhibit high activity and selectivity with good stability and tolerance in various important organic transformations when combined with metal pre-catalysts.

  • NHC imidazolidine ligands with sterically encumbering groups such as mesityl, isopropyl, and adamantyl are widely used in arylation reactions, Sonogashira reactions, and ring-closing metathesis (RCM) reactions.
  • NHC triazolium ligands have been found useful for many synthetic reactions, such as intermolecular homodimerization reactions, intramolecular Stetter reactions, oxidative Michael addition reactions, oxidative amidation or azidation, asymmetric acylation, crossed acyloin condensations, Domino ring-opening redox amidation, Knoevenagel condensation, Claisen rearrangement, Lewis acid- and N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed cyclo-condensation reactions and enantioselective cyclizations using Bode catalysts.

Our goal is to accelerate your cutting-edge research projects in NHC ligand-mediated chemistry. To this end, we offer a ligand kit composed of a diverse set of sterically-demanding NHC ligands. Discover how our NHC ligands and complexes can make a difference in your coordination chemistry.

Related Product Resources

  • N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC) Ligands

    Rapid progress in cross-coupling reactions of unactivated substrates catalyzed by metal complexes has transformed the chemical market-place through introduction of an extensive library of achiral and chiral phosphine ligands.

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