A select history of dichlorocarbene chemistry between 1950 and 2010 will be presented. This is not a comprehensive review; rather, it is a personal perspective on the contributions of two respected colleagues. Jack Hine discovered a new mechanism—alpha elimination—to form carbenes. Moss (and his preceptor Closs) discovered the concept of carbenoids. Dichlorocarbene is the reactive intermediate that spanned the research efforts of Hine and Moss and stimulated their important contributions to organic synthesis and mechanistic thinking.

Abstract

A select history of dichlorocarbene chemistry between 1950 and 2010 will be presented. This is not a comprehensive review; rather, it is a personal perspective on the contributions of two respected colleagues, the reactive intermediate that spanned their research efforts, and their important contributions to organic synthesis and mechanistic thinking.