Organometallic chemistry articles from across Nature Portfolio

A boryl-isodiazomethyl anion featuring a bent eneyne-type B=N–N≡C scaffold is isolated and structurally characterized. The highly nucleophilic boron-bound nitrogen centre makes this species an effective synthon of boryl-nitrene for concerted CN⁻/CO exchange and metathesis reactions with C=O, C=S and C=N bonds via cleavage of the N–N bond.

Nickel-catalysed cross-coupling reactions generally use Ni(II) or Ni(0) precatalysts. Here the authors report thermally stable dinuclear Ni(I) complexes with commercial isocyanide ligands for the efficient catalysis in Kumada, Suzuki–Miyaura and Buchwald–Hartwig cross-coupling reactions.

Molecular information encoded within supramolecular frameworks offers a powerful paradigm for directing emergent function beyond the genetic code, but systematic investigations into alternative spatial configurations and their consequences remain scarce. Here the authors use metalla-[2]catenanes to probe sequence–function relationships in layered architectures.

Methods for the systematic synthesis and evaluation of large numbers of transition metal complexes at a time are still limited. Here, the authors report a high-throughput method to create and test hundreds of metal complexes, revealing potent new metalloantibiotics and a highly active iridium catalyst.

Despite their intriguing electronic features and promising functional properties, phosphinines remain underexplored because their selective modification is difficult. In this work, the authors demonstrate that halogen–zinc exchanges provide an efficient route to functionalized λ⁵-phosphinines, operating under mild, functional-group-tolerant conditions and enabling access to diverse architectures with notable fluorescence characteristics.

The homocatenation of electron-deficient Group 13 metals to form metal-metal multiple bonds through covalent self-assembly remains extremely challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate the synthesis and characterization of N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized digallyl digallenes which exhibit unsaturated Ga-Ga=Ga-Ga chains with trans-bent geometries.

The π-allyl cation is a three-carbon system featuring a positive charge and a conjugated π-system. There is interest in preparing heavier π-allyl cation analogues, but the synthesis of these is challenging. Now, a compound featuring a cationic triatomic bismuth-based core has been isolated and fully characterized.

A berkelium metallocene complex was isolated and structurally characterized for the first time. These findings elevate our understanding of chemical bonding and inform on the future design of f-element quantum materials.