Nickel catalysis has become a growing and empowering area of research in recent years, providing new reactivity modes towards organic synthesis. In these endeavours, Ni(COD)₂ (bis(1,5-cyclooctadiene)Ni(0)) vastly dominated this area, thus becoming the main source of Ni(0) for exploring new catalytic reactivity. However, all known Ni(0)–olefin precatalysts suffer from great instability and fast decomposition when exposed to air. With the aim of providing fast and facile technologies for practitioners, herein we report the synthesis, characterization and reactivity of an air stable binary Ni(0)–olefin complex, Ni(^Fstb)₃. This 16-electron complex features a unique arrangement of simple ligands that shield the nickel centre from oxygen. We demonstrate that Ni(^Fstb)₃ is an excellent precatalyst in a wide variety of important nickel-catalysed transformations and has unexpected catalytic properties compared with other Ni(0)–olefin complexes. As a general, practical and air-stable Ni(0) precursor, Ni(^Fstb)₃ represents a solution to a 60-year quest.

近年来，镍催化已成为研究的增长和授权领域，为有机合成提供了新的反应方式。在这些努力中，Ni（COD）₂（双（1,5-环辛二烯）Ni（0））占主导地位，因此成为探索新的催化反应性的Ni（0）的主要来源。但是，所有已知的Ni（0）-烯烃预催化剂在暴露于空气中时都存在很大的不稳定性和快速分解的问题。为了给从业者提供快速，便捷的技术，在此我们报道一种空气稳定的二元Ni（0）-烯烃络合物Ni（^F stb）₃的合成，表征和反应性。这种16电子络合物具有独特的简单配体排列方式，可将镍中心与氧气隔离开。我们证明了Ni（^F stb）₃在多种重要的镍催化转化中是出色的预催化剂，与其他Ni（0）-烯烃配合物相比，具有出乎意料的催化性能。作为一般，实用且空气稳定的Ni（0）前驱体，Ni（^F stb）₃代表了60年追求的解决方案。