N-Heterocyclic carbene copper-catalyzed carboxylation of C-B and C-H bonds with carbon dioxide

Abstract

N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) copper complexes serve as an excellent catalytic system for carboxylation of alkyl-, aryl-, and alkenylboron compounds and some aromatic heterocyclic C-H bonds with carbon dioxide (CO2), to afford various functional-group-containing carboxylic acids or their ester derivatives. Some key reaction intermediates have been isolated and structurally characterized, thus providing important insight into the mechanistic details of these catalytic reactions.