Improving the Configurational Stability of Chiral-at-Iron Catalysts Containing Two N-(2-Pyridyl)-Substituted N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands

[Image: see text] Recently, we introduced the first example of chiral-at-iron catalysts in which two achiral N-(2-pyridyl)-substituted N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands in addition to two labile acetonitriles are coordinated around a central iron, to generate a stereogenic metal center [ Y. HongChiral-at-Iron Catalyst: Expanding the Chemical Space for Asymmetric Earth-Abundant Metal Catalysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2019, 141, 4569−457230839201]. A more facile synthesis of such chiral-at-iron catalysts was developed, which omits the use of expensive silver salts and an elaborate electrochemical setup. Configurational robustness was improved by replacing the imidazol-2-ylidene carbene moieties with benzimidazol-2-ylidenes. The π-acceptor properties of the altered NHCs were investigated by Ganter’s (77)Se NMR method. The obtained benzimidazol-2-ylidene chiral-at-iron complex is an excellent catalyst for an asymmetric hetero-Diels–Alder reaction under open-flask conditions.