The role of electrochemistry in the development of pi-basic dearomatization agents

Dihapto-coordination of aromatic molecules promotes numerous organic transformations that are not observed for the free aromatics. The development of osmium, rhenium, tungsten and molybdenum complexes that are capable of such binding is described in this perspective. The stability of these complexes strongly correlates to the metal d5/d6 reduction potential and electrochemical data has played a central role in their design.