Carbon−Sulfur Coupling Reactions Catalyzed by Nickel(II) N‐Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes

The Cover Feature shows important features of a novel mononuclear nickel(II) complex, which is stabilized with a pincer ligand. The bulkier form of this complex with tert-butyl substituents was not as effective as catalyst as the complex shown at the center of this cover image. In this research it has been shown that a tridentate pincer ligand with an N-heterocyclic carbene backbone is capable of stabilizing nickel(II) ions and producing highly active catalysts for the C−S coupling of aryl and alkyl halides. A mixture of water and methanol turned out to be a suitable solvent for the catalytic coupling reactions. Thiourea was used as a source of sulfur atoms. The optimized catalytic conditions were operative for a broad range of aryl halides. More information can be found in the Research Article by A. Neshat, M. Gholinejad and co-workers.