Recent advances in ketene chemistry

Abstract

Recent advances in ketene chemistry are reviewed, including synthetic, mechanistic, and computational studies. Topics include ketene structure determination by experimental and theoretical methods, computational studies of bonding in ketenes, spectroscopic properties of ketenes, preparation and formation of ketenes including photochemical and thermal methods, the discovery and observation of ketenes in space, and ketene reactions. The last category includes decarbonylation, cycloadditions with carbon-carbon, carbon-nitrogen, and carbon-oxygen multiple bonds, addition of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon nucleophiles, and electrophilic additions.