Iron, copper, and manganese are the predominant metals found in oxygenases that perform efficient and selective hydrocarbon oxidations and for this reason, a large number of the corresponding metal-oxygen species has been described. However, in recent years nickel has been found in the active site of enzymes involved in oxidation processes, in which nickel-dioxygen species are proposed to play a key role. Owing to this biological relevance and to the existence of different catalytic protocols that involve the use of nickel catalysts in oxidation reactions, there is a growing interest in the detection and characterization of nickel-oxygen species relevant to these processes. In this Minireview the spectroscopically/structurally characterized synthetic superoxo, peroxo, and oxonickel species that have been reported to date are described. From these studies it becomes clear that nickel is a very promising metal in the field of oxidation chemistry with still unexplored possibilities.
Keywords: catalysis; high-valent metal species; nickel; oxidation; spectroscopic characterization.
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