Conley, M.P., et al., A Well-Defined Pd Hybrid Material for the Z-Selective Semihydrogenation of Alkynes Characterized at the Molecular Level by DNP SENS. Chemistry, 2013. 19(37): p. 12234-8.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23959767
Direct evidence of the conformation of a Pd-N heterocyclic carbene (NHC) moiety imbedded in a hybrid material and of the Pd-NHC bond were obtained by dynamic nuclear polarization surface-enhanced NMR spectroscopy (DNP SENS) at natural abundance in short experimental times (hours). Overall, this silica-based hybrid material containing well-defined Pd-NHC sites in a uniform environment displays high activity and selectivity in the semihydrogenation of alkynes into Z-alkenes.