Ligand-dependent scope and divergent mechanistic behavior in nickel-catalyzed reductive couplings of aldehydes and alkynes

A new procedure for catalytic reductive coupling of aldehydes and alkynes has been developed. The procedure uses Ni(COD)2 with an imidazolium carbene ligand as the catalyst and triethylsilane as the reducing agent. A crossover deuterium-labeling experiment illustrated that variants involving trialkyl phosphines and imidazolium carbene ligands with a nickel catalyst proceed by different mechanisms.