N??Heterocyclic Carbene Catalyzed Umpolung of Michael Acceptors for Intermolecular Reactions

…, M Padmanaban, NE Wurz, F Glorius

Index: Biju, Akkattu T.; Padmanaban, Mohan; Wurz, Nathalie E.; Glorius, Frank Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 2011 , vol. 50, # 36 p. 8412 - 8415

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Citation Number: 89

Abstract

The benzoin reaction, the coupling of two aromatic aldehydes [Eq.(1)], is one of the most important transformations catalyzed by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs).[1] It proceeds through a unique umpolung strategy, which is widely used to provide unconventional access to various target molecules.[2] Intriguingly, however, in most cases this strategy is limited to aldehydes,[3] and the umpolung of other electrophiles in this realm of NHC ...