Elucidation of Organometallic Reaction Mechanisms by a China-Germany Team

This invited Team Profile was created by Jiaxiang Chu at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) and Dominik Munz at Saarland University (Germany). They recently reported isocyanide homologation mediated by aluminium(I) as a Fischer-Tropsch model reaction. Up to five molecules were coupled, and the step-by-step mechanism was elucidated. Combined mechanistic/computational work provided evidence that carbenes are the key intermediates during this process. "Evidence for Carbene Intermediates in Isocyanide Homologation by Aluminium(I)", C.J. Zhang, F. Dankert, Z.A. Jiang, B.L. Wang, D. Munz, J.X. Chu, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202307352.