Magnetic circular dichroism and density functional theory studies of electronic structure and bonding in cobalt(ii)–N-heterocyclic carbene complexes

Abstract

The combination of simple cobalt salts and N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands has been highly effective in C–H functionalization, hydroarylation and cross-coupling catalysis, though displaying a strong dependence on the identity of the NHC ligand.