Abstract:The endocyclic ring expansiono fN-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) rings by transitionm etal (group 12) and main group (group 13-16) elementh ydrides has been investigated in ac omputational study.I na ddition to previously reported insertion reactivity with Si, B, Be and Zn, similarr eactivity is predicted to be feasible for heavierg roup 13 elements (Al,G a, In, Tl), with the reaction barriersf or Al-Tl calculated to be lower than for boron.I nsertion is not expected with group 15-16 elementh ydrides, as the initial adduct formationist hermodynamically unfavorable. The reaction pathway with group 12 hydrides is calculated to be more favorable with two NHCs rather than as ingle NHC (analogous to Be), however hydride ring insertion with metal dihydrides is not feasible, but ratherareduced NHC is thermodynamically favored. For group 14, ring-insertion reactivityi sp redicted to be feasible with the heavier dihydrides. Trends in reactivity of element hydrides may be related to the protic or hydridic character of the elementhydrides.