Following an initial screening of six common imidazolium, imidazolinium, and dithiolium salts in the presence of a base, 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (IDip) and 1,3-dimesitylimidazolin-2-ylidene (SIMes) were identified as promising organocatalysts for the microwave-assisted synthesis of hydroxymethyl ketones from aldehydes and paraformaldehyde. The azolium-2-carboxylate zwitterions IDip·CO₂ and SIMes·CO₂ were then tested as single-component N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) precursors in the hydroxymethylation of heptanal and benzaldehyde. The latter adduct was an efficient precatalyst for the two reactions. It was successfully applied to a broad range of aliphatic and aromatic substrates (14 examples, 10–97% yields).

在存在碱的情况下，初步筛选了六种常见的咪唑鎓盐，咪唑啉鎓盐和二硫鎓盐之后，1,3-双（2,6-二异丙基苯基）咪唑-2-亚胺基（IDip）和1,3-二甲酰亚胺咪唑啉-2-亚砜（SIMes）被认为是微波从醛和多聚甲醛合成羟甲基酮的有前途的有机催化剂。然后，在庚醛和苯甲醛的羟甲基化反应中，将2-羧酸二氮唑两性离子IDip·CO ₂和SIMes·CO ₂作为单组分N-杂环卡宾（NHC）前体进行了测试。后者的加合物是两个反应的有效预催化剂。它已成功应用于各种脂族和芳族底物（14个实例，产率10-97％）。