The ability to conduct N-heterocyclic carbene-catalysed acyl anion chemistry under ball-milling conditions is reported for the first time. This process has been exemplified through applications to intermolecular-benzoin, intramolecular-benzoin, intermolecular-Stetter and intramolecular-Stetter reactions including asymmetric examples and demonstrates that this mode of mechanistically complex organocatalytic reaction can operate under solvent-minimised conditions.
Keywords: N-heterocyclic carbenes; acyl anion; ball milling; mechanochemistry; organocatalysis.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.