Recent advances in the synthesis of 2-imidazolines and their applications in homogeneous catalysis

As an important class of heterocyclic scaffolds, 2-imidazolines have attracted the attention from the chemists interested in natural products, pharmaceutical chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, coordination chemistry, and homogeneous catalysis. To fulfill the demand of structural diversity, many efficient methods towards 2-imidazolines, as well as modifications of traditional methods, have been reported in the past two decades. 2-Imidazolines have been developed as ligands in homogeneous catalysis, for the substitution on the nitrogen atom that provides an opportunity for fine-tuning of the electronic effect. This review summarizes recent advances in the synthesis of 2-imidazolines and their applications in homogeneous catalysis.