Bench‐Stable <i>N</i>‐Heterocyclic Carbene Nickel Precatalysts for C−C and C−N Bond‐Forming Reactions

Abstract

Herein, we introduce a new class of bench-stable <i>N</i>-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) nickel-precatalysts for homogeneous nickel-catalysis. The nickel(II) complexes are readily activated to Ni⁰ in situ under mild conditions, via a proposed Heck-type mechanism. The precatalysts are shown to facilitate carbonyl-ene, hydroalkenylation, and amination reactions.