Amino acid derived imidazolium salts : platform molecules for N Heterocyclic carbene metal complexes and organosilica materials In the interest of producing functional catalysts from sustainable building blocks 1 3 dicarboxylate imidazolium salts derived from amino acids were successfully modified to be suitable as N Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands within metal complexes. Complexes of Ag(I) Pd(II) and Ir(I) were successfully produced using known procedures using ligands derived from glycine alanine β alanine and phenylalanine. The complexes were characterized in solid state using X Ray crystallography which allowed for the steric and electronic comparison of these ligands to well known NHC ligands within analogous metal complexes. The palladium complexes were tested as catalysts for aqueous phase Suzuki Miyaura cross coupling. Water solubility could be induced via ester hydrolysis of the N bound groups in the presence of base. The mono NHC–Pd complexes were seen to be highly active in the coupling of aryl bromides with phenylboronic acid; the active catalyst of which was determined to be mostly Pd(0) nanoparticles. Kinetic studies determined that…