Triazolylidenes have rapidly emerged as a powerful subclass of N-heterocyclic carbene ligands for transition metals. They are readily available through regioselective [2+3] cycloaddition of alkynes and azides and subsequent metallation according to procedures established for related carbenes. Due to their mesoionic character, triazolylidenes are stronger donors than Arduengo-type imidazol-2-ylidenes. Spurred by these attractive attributes and despite their only recent emergence, triazolylidenes have shown 10 major implications in catalysis. This feature article summarises the synthetic accessibility of triazolylidene metal complexes and their electronic and structural characteristics, and it compiles their applications, in particular, as catalyst precursors for various bond forming and redox reactions, as well as first approaches into photophysical and biochemical domains.

as potential catalytically active species. Furthermore, the triazolylidene scaffold had no impact on the diastereoselectivity of the oxazoline formation, and chiral triazolylidenes did not induce any asymmetry in the product. The facile dissociation of carbenes from [AuCl(carbene)] in the presence of Ag + ions suggests a less stable Au-C carbene interaction than often assumed, with potential implications for gold-catalyzed reactions that employ a silver salt as (putative) halide scavenger.2

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Iridium complexes of Cp* and mesoionic carbene ligands were synthesized and evaluated as potential water oxidation catalysts using cerium ammonium nitrate as a chemical oxidant. Performance was evaluated by turnover frequency at 50% conversion and by absolute turnover number, and the most promising precatalysts were subjected to further study. Molecular turnover frequencies varied from 190 to 451 per hour with a maximum turnover number of 38,000. While the rate of oxygen evolution depends linearly on iridium concentration, 10 concurrent spectroscopic and manometric monitoring of stoichiometric additions of oxidant suggests oxygen evolution occurs as two sequential first order reactions. Under the conditions herein, the oxygen evolving species appears to be well defined and molecular based on the kinetic effects of careful ligand design, reproducibility, and the absence of persistent dynamic light scattering signals. Outside of these conditions, the complex mechanism is highly dependent on reaction conditions. While confident characterization of the catalytically active species is difficult, especially under high-turnover conditions, this work indicates IrOx is not essential for the 15 formation of catalytically active water oxidation species.