Cyclic alkyl amino carbenes

In chemistry, cyclic(alkyl)(amino)carbenes (CAACs) are a family of stable singlet carbene ligands developed by the research group of Guy Bertrand in 2005 at UC Riverside. In marked contrast with the popular N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) which possess two "amino" substituents adjacent to the carbene center, CAACs possess one "amino" substituent and an sp³ carbon atom "alkyl". This specific configuration makes the CAACs very good σ-donors (higher HOMO) and π-acceptors (lower LUMO) when compared to NHCs. Moreover the reduced heteroatom stabilization of the carbene center in CAACs versus NHCs also gives rise to a smaller ΔE_ST (48.3 vs 72.7 kcal mol-1).