Résumé
Over the last three decades, the highly tunable properties of NHCs and other stable singlet carbenes have led to a variety of applications. We will discuss a novel facet of carbenes, i.e., their reductive properties, which allows carbenes to function as catalysts in single-electron transfer (SET) reactions. The isolation and even spectroscopic characterization of a singly oxidized carbene have yet to be done, but these species readily abstract hydrogen atoms giving back the carbene conjugate acid which behaves as the resting state of catalytic cycles. We will also discuss the chemistry of masked carbon-centered radicals as possible catalysts.
