N‐Heterocyclic Carbene Organocatalysis: Activation Modes and Typical Reactive Intermediates

N‐Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) organocatalysis has been developed as an important approach in modern organic synthesis. Versatile activation modes within NHC organocatalysis have been established with countless transformations being realized in both efficient and selective fashion. We would like to provide an overview on the key progresses achieved within this field in the past two decades. Since numerous excellent reviews have been documented within this area, we will mainly focus on the scientific development of this research field based on the basic reaction modes and typical reaction intermediates.      

Gold(I)-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions of Arenediazonium Salts with Alkynoic Acids

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - The reaction of simple alkynoate salts with isolated arenediazonium tetrafluoroborate salts that had been pre-conditioned with the gold(I) catalyst AuCl(Me2S)...     

Synthesis of (Alkynyl)phenyl Porphyrins by Palladium Catalysed Cross Coupling Reactions

meso-para and meso-meta-(phenyltriflate)tritolyl porphyrins and the zinc complexes are coupled with alkynyl stannanes or terminal alkynes with palladium catalyst to give the meso-para and meta(m-alkynylphenyl)tritolylylkphenyl porphyrins as well as the zinc complex in good yields.     

The relationship between end‐group concentrations and stability of spin‐coated thin polymer films investigated by ToF‐SIMS depth profiling

Stable and unstable spin‐coated polymer films were prepared using various solvents and substrates. The relationship between polymer end‐group concentrations and stability of spin‐coated polymer films was revealed by time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling. A high concentration of bromine end groups at the interface between the polymer and the substrate helped to prevent the dewetting of films. In contrast, the bromine end groups were found to be more evenly distributed in unstable thin films. The extent to which the bromine end groups segregate to the interface depended on the competitive interactions between the polymer, the solvent and the substrate. Stronger polymer–solvent and solvent–substrate interactions prevented the segregation of the bromine end groups to the interface, resulting in unstable polymer films. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.