Synthesis and application of water-soluble NHC transition-metal complexes

We provide an overview on the state-of-the-art in transition-metal complexes formed with water-soluble NHC ligands. Paths to introducing water solubility by ligand design are elucidated and some general properties of water-soluble NHC complexes are highlighted. The enhanced hydrophilicity of water-soluble catalysts offers advantages in applications. While studies based on C-C coupling reactions still dominate the field, recent reports show water-soluble NHC complexes can be applied in metathesis and hydrogenation reactions and turn out to be among the best performing catalysts known. Nevertheless, wide areas of this young field remain to be investigated, offering great potential for future research.