Metal-Metal Cooperation in Dinucleating Complexes Involving Late Transition Metals Directed towards Organic Catalysis

Cooperatively bimetallic organic catalysis, coupling actions of two metal centers in a catalytic organic transformation via co-activation of a single molecule or synergistic activation of two molecules, has witnessed rapid development in the last decades. This cooperative reacting mode creates new catalytic platforms to facilitate the characterization of bimetallic reaction pathways, offers remarkable improvements to some well-established reactions, or exhibit unprecedented reactivity. Herein, we demonstrate perspectives of some significant contributions in the field of cooperatively bimetallic organic catalysis using dinucleating complexes with late transition metals. Based on different activation modes for the catalysis, the major advances are classified into: (1) bimetallic co-activation of small molecules; (2) bimetallic co-activation of single molecules; (3) bimetallic dual-activation of two molecules. The mechanisms are also discussed to facilitate the understanding of the way of the metal-metal cooperation involved in the catalytic cycles.