Continuous Flow Synthesis of Metal–NHC Complexes. Issue 18 (3rd March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Simoens, Andreas; Scattolin, Thomas; Cauwenbergh, Thibault; Pisanò, Gianmarco; Cazin, Catherine S. J.; Stevens, Christian V.; Nolan, Steven P.
• Is Part Of: Chemistry. Volume 27:Issue 18(2021)
• Page Start: 5653
• Page End: 5657
• Publication Date: 2021-03-03
• Subjects: flow continuous synthesis -- green solvents -- metal complexes -- N-heterocyclic carbene ligands -- weak-base route; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.202100190
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0947-6539

Abstract

Abstract: The use of weak bases and mild conditions is currently the most sustainable and attractive synthetic approach for the preparation of late‐transition metal complexes, some of which are widely used in catalysis, medicinal chemistry and materials science. Herein, the use of cuprate, aurate or palladate species for a continuous flow preparation of Cu I, Au I and Pd II ‐NHC complexes is reported. All reactions examined proceed under extremely mild conditions and make use of technical grade acetone as solvent. The scalability of the process was exemplified in a multigram‐scale synthesis of [Cu(IPr)Cl]. Abstract : Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication : Taking advantage of the mechanistic understanding of the weak base route to access metal–NHC complexes, the first continuous flow syntheses of Cu I ‐, Au I ‐ and Pd II ‐NHC complexes using very mild conditions (40 °C, 2 min in technical grade acetone) are described.