Unusual 1,2‐migration reactions of N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) on transition metals were investigated using density functional theory calculations. Our results reveal that the electronic properties, ring strain of the four‐membered ring, and aromaticity of NHC play crucial roles in the thermodynamics of such a 1,2‐migration.

Fluorine is the most electronegative element in the periodic table. Thus, activation of the carbon–fluorine (C−F) bond, the strongest single bond to carbon, has attracted considerable interest from both experimentalists and theoreticians. In comparison with numerous approaches to activate C−F bonds, the aromaticity‐promoted method is less developed. Herein, we demonstrate that the C−F bond activation could be achieved by a facile tautomerization, benefitting from aromaticity, which can stabilize both the transition states and products.

In textbooks, the low reactivity of amides is attributed to the strong resonance stability. However, Garg and co-workers recently reported the Ni-catalyzed activation of robust amide C–N bonds, leading to conversions of amides into esters, ketones, and other amides with high selectivity. Among them, the Ni-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling (SMC) of N-benzyl-N-tert-butoxycarbonyl (N-Bn-N-Boc) amides with pinacolatoboronate (PhBpin) was performed in the presence of K3PO4 and water. Water significantly enhanced the reaction.

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to investigate the hydridic character of several main group hydrides. A P-hydrido-1,3,2-diazaphospholene 1f with two π-electron donor amino groups on the heterocyclic skeleton framework performs as a strong hydride donor owing to the significant n(N)–σ*(P–H) hyperconjugation. The natural bond orbital analysis reveals that high π-electron delocalization exists in both 1f and the corresponding stable phosphenium Ef+.

To probe the kinetic performance of microsolvated α-nucleophile, the G2(+)M calculations were carried out for the gas-phase SN2 reactions of monohydrated and dihydrated α-oxy-nucleophiles XO−(H2O)n = 1,2 (X = HO, CH3O, F, Cl, Br), and α-sulfur-nucleophile, HSS−(H2O)n = 1,2, toward CH3Cl. We compared the reactivities of hydrated α-nucleophiles to those of hydrated normal nucleophiles.