Patent ID: 8530212

Claim:
A carbene precursor compound of the following formula (I): wherein: A is an aryl or heteroaryl ring; y is 1 or 2; L A is -alk-, -arylene-, -alk-arylene-, -alk-X-arylene-, -alk-arylene-X, or -alk-X-arylene-X-, wherein X is N(R″), O, or S and wherein alk is C 1-20 alkylene which is uninterrupted or interrupted by N(R″), O, S or arylene, wherein R″ is H, C 1-6 alkyl or aryl; W A is a group comprising an adhesive functional group or a group which is a precursor of an adhesive functional group, wherein W A is: a group selected from: -L 2 —OH, -L 2 —NH 2 , -L 2 —SH, C 1-20 alkyl, C 3-20 cycloalkyl, C 3-20 heterocyclyl, aryl and heteroaryl, wherein said C 1-20 alkyl, C 3-20 cycloalkyl, C 3-20 heterocyclyl, aryl and heteroaryl are each substituted by -L 2 —OH, -L 2 —NH 2 or -L 2 —SH, wherein said C 1-20 alkyl is uninterrupted or interrupted by N(R″), O, S or arylene, wherein R″ is H, C 1-6 alkyl or aryl, and wherein L 2 is a single bond, C 1-6 alkylene, arylene, -arylene-C 1-6 alkylene- or -C 1-6 alkylene-arylene-, wherein each of said C 1-6 alkylene groups is uninterrupted or interrupted by N(R″), O, S or arylene; a group which comprises a plurality of —OH, —NH 2 or —SH moieties; a group which comprises at least one aliphatic carbon-carbon double bond; a group which comprises at least one epoxide group; a group which comprises one or more of any one of the following groups: a phosphonic acid group or a salt thereof, a sulfonic acid group or a salt thereof, a carboxylic acid group or a salt thereof, a sulfonamide group, and C(O)NH 2 ; a group which comprises at least one group having the structure: wherein X 1 is a single bond, C(R″)(R′″), N(R″) or O, wherein R″ and R′″ are independently selected from H, C 1-6 alkyl or aryl, and wherein Prot is a protecting group which is a precursor to a —CH═CH 2 group, wherein Prot is selected from 7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-yl, an organometallic group, and a 1,2-dioxygenated substrate; or a group which comprises -P(═O)(OR 4 ) 2 or wherein R 4 is C 1-6 alkyl or aryl; and Y is H, C 1-6 alkyl, aryl, —OH, —SH or NH 2 ; R is selected from aryl, heteroaryl and H; provided that when R is aryl or heteroaryl, said aryl or heteroaryl may be unsubstituted or substituted by one or two groups, which groups are independently selected from C 1-6 alkyl, aryl, cyano, amino, keto, C 1-10 alkylamino, di(C 1-10 )alkylamino, arylamino, diarylamino, arylalkylamino, amido, hydroxy, halo, carboxy, ester, C 1-6 alkoxy, aryloxy, haloalkyl, thiol, C 1-10 alkylthio, arylthio, sulfonic acid, sulfonyl and -L B -W B , wherein L B is as defined above for L A and is the same as or different from L A , and W B is as defined above for W A and is the same as or different from W A .