title: Rational design of a gold carbene precursor complex for a catalytic cyclopropanation reaction.
abstract: Bridging gas- and solution-phase chemistry: A gold(I) carbene precursor complex has been developed and investigated for catalytic cyclopropanation. Formation of the carbene intermediate was first probed by mass spectrometry, followed by cyclopropanation of p-methoxystyrene in solution. The imidazolylidene leaving group serves as a base generated in situ that is necessary in the putative catalytic cycle.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium für Organische Chemie, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Ringger
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen