Iridium carboxycarbene complexes by CH bond activation of aliphatic ethers and of alkyl aryl ethers

The double CH bond activation of ethers that have an alkyl terminus, RCH2OR′ (R′ = alkyl, aryl), is a useful route to heteroatom-stabilized iridium carbenes, Ir = C(R)OR′. An overview of our recent work in this field, using Ir(III) fragments stabilized by hydrotris(pyrazolyl)borate ligands, is presented concentrating on some aliphatic, non-cyclic ethers and on anisole, the latter taken as a representative example of alkyl aryl ethers.