Methylation of 2-(1-imidazolyl)cyclohexanol (la) and of the acylated deriva
tive Ib using CH3I gives the corresponding imidazolium iodides 2a,b. These
are reacted with Pd(OAc)(2) to yield the carbene complexes trans-L2PdI2 (3a
,b) bearing functionalized heterocyclic carbene ligands, which have been ch
aracterized spectroscopically and by X-ray structure analysis. (C) 2001 Els
evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.