Direct Synthesis of Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, and Copper Complexes of N‐Heterocyclic Carbenes by Using Commercially Available Metal Powders

Move to the first row: Simple and practical synthetic methods have been developed for metal complexes of N-heterocyclic carbenes. A number of FeII, CoII, NiII, as well as divalent and mixed-valent Cu carbene complexes were obtained in good yields by treating metal powders with imidazolium salts in the presence of Ag2O or air.