Mixed N-heterocyclic carbene-substituted phosphine and phosphite complexes of rhodium were prepared, starting from [RhA C H T U N G T R E N N U N G (COE) 2 Cl] 2 (COE = cyclooctene) by addition of free N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) and PR 3 . All new complexes were characterized by spectroscopy. In addition, the structures of trans-chloro(1,3-dicyclohexylimidazol-2-ylidene)-bis(triphenylphosphite)rhodium(I) (5), chloro-trans-bis(1,3-dicyclohexylimidazol-2-ylidene) (triphenylphosphine)rhodium(I) (6), and chloro(h8) were determined by single crystal X-ray analyses. The hydrogenation of cyclohexene using molecular hydrogen has been optimized for some N-heterocyclic carbene-substituted phosphine and phosphite rhodium complexes by variation of the reaction conditions.