Exploiting Acyl and Enol Azolium Intermediates via N‐Hetero‐ cyclic Carbene‐Catalyzed Reactions of α‐Reducible Aldehydes

Abstract N‐heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) are well known for their role in catalyzing benzoin and Stetter reactions: the generation of acyl anion equivalents from simple aldehydes to react with a variety of electrophiles. However, when an aldehyde bearing a leaving group or unsaturation adjacent to the acyl anion equivalent is subjected to an NHC, a new avenue of reactivity is unlocked, leading to a number of novel transformations which can generate highly complex products from simple starting materials, many of which are assembled through unconventional bond disconnections. The field of these new reactions – those utilizing α‐reducible aldehydes to access previously unexplored catalytic intermediates – has expanded rapidly in the past eight years. This review aims to provide the reader with a historical perspective on the underlying discoveries that led to the current state of the art, a mechanistic description of these reactions, and a summary of the recent advances in this area.