N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) are nowadays ubiquitous and indispensable in many research fields, and it is not possible to imagine modern transition metal and main group element chemistry without the plethora of available NHCs with tailor-made electronic and steric properties. While their suitability to act as strong ligands toward transition metals has led to numerous applications of NHC complexes in homogeneous catalysis, their strong σ-donating and adaptable π-accepting abilities have also contributed to an impressive vitalization of main group chemistry with the isolation and characterization of NHC adducts of almost any element. Formally, NHC coordination to Lewis acids affords a transfer of nucleophilicity from the carbene carbon atom to the attached exocyclic moiety, and low-valent and lowcoordinate adducts of the p-block elements with available lone pairs and/or polarized carbon-element π-bonds are able to act themselves as Lewis basic donor ligands toward transition metals. Accordingly, the availability of a large number of novel NHC adducts has not only produced new varieties of already existing ligand classes but has also allowed establishment of numerous complexes with unusual and often unprecedented element−metal bonds. This review aims at summarizing this development comprehensively and covers the usage of N-heterocyclic carbene adducts of the p-block elements as ligands in transition metal chemistry.

The N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphinidene adduct IPrPSiMe3 is introduced as a synthon for the preparation of terminal carbene-phosphinidyne transition metal complexes of the type [(IPrP)MLn ] (MLn =(η(6) -p-cymene)RuCl) and (η(5) -C5 Me5 )RhCl). Their spectroscopic and structural characteristics, namely low-field (31) P NMR chemical shifts and short metal-phosphorus bonds, show their similarity with arylphosphinidene complexes. The formally mononegative IPrP ligand is also capable of bridging two or three metal atoms as demonstrated by the preparation of bi- and trimetallic RuAu, RhAu, Rh2 , and Rh2 Au complexes.

Half-sandwich complexes of the N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphinidene adduct [(IPr)PH] (1, IPr = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-ylidene) were prepared by its reaction with dimeric complexes of the type [LMCl], which afforded the three-legged piano-stool complexes [LMCl{HP(IPr)}] (9a/9b: M = Ru/Os, L = η-p-cymene; 10a/10b: M = Rh/Ir, L = η-CMe). Their conversion into the corresponding carbene-phosphinidenide complexes [LMCl{P(IPr)}] (11a/11b: M = Ru/Os; 12a/12b: M = Rh/Ir) with a two-legged piano stool geometry was studied by NMR spectroscopy in the presence of the strong base 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU). Alternatively, the complexes 11 and 12 were isolated in high yields from the reactions of the carbene-phosphinidene adduct [(IPr)PTMS] (2) with [LMCl], whereby formation of the metal-phosphorus bonds was accompanied by elimination of trimethylsilyl chloride (MeSiCl). Theoretical calculations reveal a strong polarization of the phosphorus ligands upon metal complexation, which can be ascribed to the ability of the imidazole moiety to effectively stabilize a positive charge. Dehydrohalogenation of complexes 9/10 to 11/12 affords a significant increase of the metal-phosphorus bond order, with the carbene-phosphinidenide ligand acting as a strong 2σ,2π-electron donor.

Coinage metal complexes of the N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphinidene adduct IPr⋅PPh (IPr=1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin-2-ylidene) were prepared by its reaction with CuCl, AgCl, and [(Me2 S)AuCl], which afforded the monometallic complexes [(IPr⋅PPh)MCl] (M=Cu, Ag, Au). The reaction with two equivalents of the metal halides gave bimetallic [(IPr⋅PPh)(MCl)2 ] (M=Cu, Au); the corresponding disilver complex could not be isolated. [(IPr⋅PPh)(CuOTf)2 ] was prepared by reaction with copper(I) trifluoromethanesulfonate. Treatment of [(IPr⋅PPh)(MCl)2 ] (M=Cu, Au) with Na(BAr(F) ) or AgSbF6 afforded the tetranuclear complexes [(IPr⋅PPh)2 M4 Cl2 ]X2 (X=BAr(F) or SbF6 ), which contain unusual eight-membered M4 Cl2 P2 rings with short cuprophilic or aurophilic contacts along the chlorine-bridged M⋅⋅⋅M axes. Complete chloride abstraction from [(IPr⋅PPh)(AuCl)2 ] was achieved with two equivalents of AgSbF6 in the presence of tetrahydrothiophene (THT) to form [(IPr⋅PPh){Au(THT)}2 ][SbF6 ]2 . The cationic tetra- and dinuclear complexes were used as catalysts for enyne cyclization and carbene transfer reactions.

N-Heterocyclic carbene adducts of the parent arsinidene (AsH) were prepared by two different synthetic routes, either by reaction of As(SiMe) with 2,2-difluoroimidazolines followed by desilylation or by reaction of [Na(dioxane)][AsCO] with imidazolium chlorides.