Birth of organocatalysis by N-heterocyclic carbenes | Nature Catalysis

Organocatalysis

Nature Catalysis volume 7, pages 1060–1062 (2024)Cite this article

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Thiamine, a common enzymatic cofactor, catalyses the benzoin condensation. From 1943, a panoply of mechanistic proposals were invoked to explain the intriguing transformation until two seminal papers by Ronald Breslow about 15 years after the discovery of this reaction helped resolve the mechanistic conundrum and heralded the birth of NHC-organocatalysis.

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Sukriyo Chakraborty

Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

Sukriyo Chakraborty & Akkattu T. Biju

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Correspondence to Sukriyo Chakraborty or Akkattu T. Biju.

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chakraborty, S., Biju, A.T. Birth of organocatalysis by N-heterocyclic carbenes. Nat Catal 7, 1060–1062 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-024-01235-z

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Published: 23 October 2024

Issue Date: October 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-024-01235-z

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