Harnessing Multi-Center-2-Electron Bonds for Carbene Metal-Hydride Nanocluster Catalysis.

N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands possess the ability to stabilize metal-based nanomaterials for a broad range of applications. With respect to metal-hydride nanomaterials, however, carbenes are rare, which is surprising if one considers the importance of metal-hydride bonds across the chemical sciences. In this study, we introduce a bottom-up approach leveraging preexisting metal-metal m-center-n-electron (mc-ne) bonds to access a highly stable cyclic(alkyl)amino carbene (CAAC) copper-hydride nanocluster, [(CAAC)6Cu14H12][OTf]2 with superior stability compared to Stryker's reagent, a popular commercial phosphine-based copper hydride catalyst.