In collaboration with chemistry from Cornell University, Bristol Myers Squibb, and UC San Diego, today we report the culmination of a multi-year effort to identify new bench-stable Ni(0) precatalysts with coordination properties that complement Ni(COD)(DQ) (COD = 1,5-cyclcooctadiene, DQ = duroquinone) in terms of reactivity and stability. After surveying upwards of 100 ligands, we identified 10 18-electron complexes of the type Ni(COD)(L), where L = quinone, cyclopentadienone, thiphene-S-oxide, of fulvene) that are remarkable air-stable in solid and solution state. We characterized this family of complexes using NMR, X-ray crystallography, IR, NBO analysis, CV, and TGA, and showed how their kinetic behavior varies when used as pre-catalysts in a variety of Ni-catalyzed reactions from the literature. Congrats to the whole team, especially project leads Van and Nana!

For a link to the ChemRxiv pre-print, click here: https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/62034cfce0f52929aeac5fd0