Outlook of nitrogen fixation by carbene

Abstract

From the first N2-metal complex discovered in the 1960s to the borylene N2 complex reported very recently, chemists have been trying to activate N2 under milder conditions by investigating many approaches or strategies. Among them, carbene species has been considered a good choice to construct N–C bond to obtain N-containing organic compounds directly. Since the first glimpse of the N2 exchange of diazomethane, chemists have obtained a deeper understanding of the rebound reaction between carbene and N2. This review mainly summarizes the progress in the field of N2 fixation by using carbene species, both experimentally and theoretically. We believe this review will provide readers with an in-depth understanding of the state-of-the-art and perspectives of future research particularly in the use of carbene species for activation and transformation of N2 into N–C containing organic compounds.