N-Heterocyclic Carbene Catalyzed Umpolung of Styrenes: Mechanistic Elucidation and Selective Tail-to-Tail Dimerization

The reaction between N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and styrenes yields alkyl-substituted azolium salts, which are able to form nucleophilic deoxy Breslow intermediates by simple deprotonation. This hitherto unknown reaction of NHCs represents a new way to generate deoxy Breslow intermediates and paves the way for the selective NHC-catalyzed tail-to-tail homodimerization of styrenes. This reaction significantly broadens the scope of the Michael umpolung and provides a new method to generate 1,4-diaryl compounds.