The first stable “free” N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) was isolated in 1991, since then many classes of NHCs were synthesized and isolated. N-heterocyclic carbene ligands have become a common ligand in the synthesis of metal complexes, due to their strong σ-donation with poor πeptor ability. Among all the NHC metal complexes, Hollis group was interested in exploring -NHC pincer complexes. In 2005, Hollis and co-workers synthesized and isolated first achiral -NHC zirconium pincer amido complex and studied its catalytic ability to perform intramolecular hydroamination of aminoalkenes. Later, Hollis group designed and developed new NHCs with a saturated chiral backbone, and used these new ligands to generate a new series of metal complexes. This dissertation is focused on the design, synthesis and characterization of several chiral bi-dentate NHC ligands with varying substituents on the backbone. These NHC ligands were used to synthesize several chiral mono, bis and tris amido -NHC zirconium pincer complexes. Further, transmetallation to cobalt complexes were achieved. Intramolecular hydroamination was measured for several chiral bis and tris amido -NHC pincer zirconium catalysts. Variants of these catalytic systems were generated with differing steric hinderance and electronic structure. The enantioselectivity of these novel new molecules were studied.

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In this dissertation, catalytic C-F bond activation mediated by alumenium and silylium species, improved methods for the synthesis of highly chlorinated carboranes and dodecaborates, new type of P2Si= pincer silylene Pt complexes and PBP pincer Rh complexes are presented. In Chapter II, the design and synthesis of P2Si= and PBP ligand precursors is described. BrC6H4PR2 is shown to be a useful building block for PXP type of ligands with o-arylene backbone. RLi reagents displayed high chemoselectivity towards electrophiles, such as Si(OEt)4 and BX3 (X = Hal). In Chapter III, new chlorination methods to synthesize [HCB11Cl11]- and [B12Cl12]2- are presented. [HCB11Cl11]- was obtained via reactions of Cs[HCB11H11] with SbCl5 or via reactions of Cs[HCB11H11] with Cl2 in acetic acid and triflic acid. Heating Cs2[B12H12] in mixtures of SO2Cl2 and MeCN led to the isolation of Cs2[B12Cl12] in high yield. In Chapter IV, Et2Al[HCB11H5Br6] or Ph3C[HCB11H5Br6] were shown to be robust catalysts for sp3 C-F bond activation with trialkylaluminum as the stoichiometric reagent. Trialkylaluminum compounds were also shown to be able to be used as “clean-up” reagent for the C-F bond activation reactions, which led to ultra high TON for the catalytic reactions. In Chapter V, a series of (TPB)M complexes (M = Ni, Pd, Pt) were synthesized and characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The resulting metal complexes displayed strong dative M→B interaction and unusual tetrahedral geometry for four-coordinate 16ē species, due to the cage structure of the ligand. In Chapter VI, (PSiHP)PtCl was synthesized via the reaction of the ligand precursor and Pt(COD)Cl2, which was used to obtain a series of (PSiHP)PtX complexes(X= I, OTf, Me, Ph, Mes). After hydride abstraction by Ph3C[HCB11Cl11], the X ligand (X= I, OTf, Me, Ph) migrated from the Pt center to silicon center to give a cationic pincer silyl species. The migration was not observed when mesityl was used as the X ligand, which resulted in the first known pincer complex with central silylene donor. Our approaches towards PNP pincer boryl Rh complexes were summarized in Chapter VII. (PBPhP)Rh pivalate complex underwent C-Ph bond activation to yield the pivalate-bridging Rh borane complex.

Complexes with pincer ligand moieties have garnered much attention in the past few decades. They have been shown to be highly active catalysts in several known transition metal-catalyzed organic reactions as well as some unprecedented organic transformations. At the same time, the use of computational organometallic chemistry to aid in the understanding of the mechanisms in organometallic catalysis for the development of improved catalysts is on the rise. While it was common in earlier studies to reduce computational cost by truncating donor group substituents on complexes such as tertbutyl or isopropyl groups to hydrogen or methyl groups, recent advancements in the processing capabilities of computer clusters and codes have streamlined the time required for calculations. As the full modeling of complexes become increasingly popular, a commonly overlooked aspect, especially in the case of complexes bearing isopropyl substituents, is the conformational analysis of complexes. Isopropyl groups generate a different conformer with each 120 ° rotation (rotamer), and it has been found that each rotamer typically resides in its own potential energy well in density functional theory studies. As a result, it can be challenging to select the most appropriate structure for a theoretical study, as the adjustment of isopropyl substituents from a higher-energy rotamer to the lowest-energy rotamer usually does not occur during structure optimization. In this report, the influence of the arrangement of isopropyl substituents in pincer complexes on calculated complex structure energies as well as a case study on the mechanism of the isomerization of an iPrPCP-Fe complex is covered. It was found that as many as 324 rotamers can be generated for a single complex, as in the case of an iPrPCP-Ni formato complex, with the energy difference between the global minimum and the highest local minimum being as large as 16.5 kcalmol-1. In the isomerization of a iPrPCP-Fe complex, it was found that the isopropyl substituents not only influence the calculated structure energies, but they dictate the mechanism of isomerization with the rotation of isopropyl substituents from the arrangement in the starting material complex to the arrangement in the product complex being the rate-determining step.

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Morita Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction a carbon-carbon bond forming reaction between an α,β-unsaturated carbonyl and aldehydes or activated ketones in the presence of a nucleophilic catalyst. The MBH reaction is an atom-economical method of rapid increase of molecular complexity. The development of this process has received considerable attention in recent years. This dissertation presents the development of a new catalytic system for the symmetric and asymmetric MBH reaction. The new system for the racemic version of this reaction was accomplished employing a 1:1:1 ratio of catalytic amounts (10 mol%) of MgI2, TMEDA and DMAP and proved to be highly effective. For the asymmetric version was developed a highly enantio-selective system based on Fu’s planar chiral DMAP derivative (II) with ee´s up to 98%. Abnormal MBH adducts are obtained employing either ethyl 2,3-butadienoate or ethyl propiolate in good yields, in the presence if MgI2 and either a tertiary amine or phosphine as the nucleophile. The α,β-unsaturated carbonyls where prepared by a modified direct α- methylenation using paraformaldehyde, diisopropylammonium trifluoroacetate, and catalytic acid or base with excellent yields for several carbonyls compounds. The Negishi cross-coupling reaction is the Pd or Ni-catalyzed stereoselective cross-coupling or organozincs and aryl-, alkenyl-, or alkynyl halides. Enantioselective Negishi cross-coupling of aryl zincs and α-bromo ketones was accomplished employing a NCN Pincer complex as the catalyst with ee´s up 99%. The required pincer complexes have been prepared by the oxidative addition of pincer ligands with palladium or nickel. Additionally, It has been developed a direct and highly active, (NCN)-Pd catalytic system for the α-arylation of ketones with a variety of aryl bromides using the air and moisture stable [t-BuPheBox-Me2]PdBr (XVI) as the catalyst. The adducts are obtained in excellent yields (92% average for 20 examples) in only 1 hour using 1 mol% of catalyst loading. Perhaps more importantly, the work described here shows that XVI is highly reactive, highly selective, even on substrates bearing challenging functional groups such alkenes.

La substitution des métaux nobles par des métaux de transition abondants et bon marché est un challenge majeur de ce siècle en chimie de synthèse. Récemment, les métaux abondants tels que le fer et le manganèse (1er et 3ème en abondance dans l'écorce terrestre) ont connu un essor remarquable en catalyse homogène, notamment en réduction. Les travaux de thèse ont portés sur le développement de nouveaux catalyseurs bien-définis efficaces du fer et du manganèse pour effectuer des réactions d'hydrogénation de dérivés carboxyliques, de réduction par prêt d'hydrogène et de déshydratation d'amides. / The substitution of noble metals by abundant and cheap transition metals is a major challenge of this century in synthetic chemistry. Recently, abundant metals such as iron and manganese (1st and 3rd in abundance in the Earth's crust) have seen remarkable growth in homogeneous catalysis, especially in reduction. The thesis work focused on the development of new well-defined efficient catalysts of iron and manganese to carry out reactions of hydrogenation of carboxylic derivatives, reduction by hydrogen and dehydration of amides.

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