Reductive Elimination at Carbon under Steric Control

It has been previously
demonstrated that stable singlet electrophilic
carbenes can behave as metal surrogates in the activation of strong
E–H bonds (E = H, B, N, Si, P), but it was believed that these
activations only proceed through an irreversible activation barrier.
Herein we show that, as is the case with transition metals, the steric
environment can be used to promote reductive elimination at carbon
centers.